


A Good, Good Year

by fleacollar999 (9daysnew)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, I'm not Japanese but I'm trying not to just make shit up, Japanese High School AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-30
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2018-05-04 02:59:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 21,691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5317919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/9daysnew/pseuds/fleacollar999
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hyuuga Hinata had a feeling her second year of high school was going to be a good, good year.</p><p>If only brooding exchange student Uchiha Sasuke had gotten the memo.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I've Got A Feeling

**Author's Note:**

> This work is crossposted to fanfiction.net under the same author name, fleacollar999.
> 
> The version of this story on fanfiction.net is out of date and will be updated at the end of December.
> 
> Updated weekly.

"I've got a feeling," Hinata said to her cousin Neji, not even sure if he was listening as they walked to school, "that it's gonna be a good, good year." 

"Really?" Neji drawled, startling Hinata-- though who was she kidding, Neji was always listening. "And why is that, Hinata-sama?" Hinata's cheeks bloomed with color.

She didn't know _why_  this year was going to be different, it just _was_ , she could feel it, though Neji put little stock into gut feelings. He preferred facts and evidence, and the occasional healthy helping of predestination. No, he wouldn't understand her intuition, so she attempted to blind him with a smile and chirped, "This year, I'm finally going to get a 100 on an English test!" 

Nevermind that Hinata had actually managed to say "good morning," to her long-time crush, Uzumaki Naruto, on the train this morning, or even that Naruto actually heard it and greeted her back. This optimism was intuition, it was pure feeling, it could not be quantified! It was going to be a good, good year, and that was that. 

The corner of Neji's mouth quirked up in a lopsided smile. "Ah, so it had nothing to do with Uzumaki this morning?"

"No!" Hinata replied vehemently, though the rosy glow on her face betrayed her. "I-I just have a good feeling about this year!"

"Mm. Whatever you say, Hinata-sama," Neji reached out to tug a lock of Hinata's dark hair. "I hope that you are correct, for what it's worth."

"Me, too," She murmured as the pair passed the gates of Konoha Gakuen, joining the throng of students waiting for the warning bell to sound. Hinata paused for a moment, letting the air of new school year excitement wash over her. She loved this time of year; the smell of chalk, the feel of a new book, and the sight of all her friends, just as excited as she was-- well, mostly. She could hear her old classmate Shikamaru through the din, and he was already complaining about how troublesome school was. Hinata giggled to herself, "What a drag."

"Did you say something, Hinata-sama?" Neji appeared at his cousin's side. 

"Oh! No," Hinata said. "Nothing important." Neji nodded, "Alright. Well, I'm going to find Tenten and Lee. Will you be alright on your own?"

"Of course," Hinata smiled at her cousin. "Go find your friends!"

Neji gave another curt nod before ruffling Hinata's hair fondly. "Good luck this year, Hinata-sama."

"You, too, Neji-nii-san," she replied, giving him a slight push. "Now go!" Watching her cousin disappear into the crowd, Hinata smiled gently; Neji was over protective, it's true, but he meant well. It's just that always having a personal bodyguard can make it hard to make friends, especially with the opposite sex. 

"Hinata-chan!" a rough voice called through the crowd. Hinata turned to see her best friends, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino, wading through the crowd of students to stand by her side. "We checked the class list, we're all together again!" 

Shino's voice was muffled by the surgical mask he always wore, "A certain Uzumaki is with us, too." 

"Yeah, but so's Sakura-chan," Kiba said flatly. "We gotta make sure he notices you this year, Hinata-chan!"

"I-it's okay, really," Hinata stammered, not trying to hide the color in her cheeks from her friends. "Just l-let nature take its course."

"Nature's taking too long!" Kiba howled to the sky as Hinata giggled softly and Shino just shook his head. 

Chiming loudly, the warning bell rang and the students scattered around the building in search of their classrooms. Taking one last deep breath and basking in the glow of her optimism, Hinata followed her classmates. "Yeah... a good, good year." 

>>

This was good, Hinata thought, settling into her assigned seat. She was positioned two rows behind Naruto, and one seat to the left. Clearly their new homeroom teacher had heard of Naruto's reputation, seating him front and center of the students, much to Hinata's benefit as she could now watch him during class without seeming creepy.The class clown himself had yet to show up to class, so for now she gazed longingly at his empty seat.  

"Nata-chan!" Kiba made himself comfortable sitting on Hinata's desk. "What's with the empty seat behind you? You know who's sitting there?" 

"I don't know, Kiba-kun," Hinata twisted in her seat to view the desk in question. "The s-seating chart said 'Uchiha', I don't think there's an Uchiha in our year."

Shino materialized behind Kiba, "Maybe it's a transfer student." 

"A transfer student, huh? I hope it's a chick," Kiba grinned wolfishly. 

The classroom door slid open, and a man with white hair wearing a surgical mask strode in, followed by Naruto and an unfamiliar teenaged boy. The chatter in the classroom ceased almost instantly, though not out of respect for the new teacher; the girls were all stunned by the newcomer, and the boys seething quietly at the prospect of a new rival.

"Damn," Kiba whispered, sliding off Hinata's desk to take his seat.

"Welcome back, students," the man said, standing behind the desk at the front of the room. "I see you've all noticed our new student, but first things first." Picking up a piece of chalk, he scrawled his name on the blackboard. "I'm Hatake Kakashi, and I expect you all to call me Kakashi-sensei or just Kakashi. I wear this mask," he gestured to the mask on his face, "because I'm so good-looking it would be a distraction to you all." There were a few awkward giggles from the class, and the man fixed his students with a look. "That wasn't a joke." There was silence. "Now I know you are all waiting for me to introduce this delightful young man to you all, but I'm sure he'd rather do that himself. Uchiha-kun?"

The strange teenager scowled and attempted to shove his hands even deeper into his pockets, only answering after a lengthy pause. "I'm Uchiha Sasuke. 16. From America. I'm here on exchange for a year."

"Heh, tell 'em where you're from in America, Sasuke!" Naruto elbowed the boy in the stomach playfully. 

After another healthy pause, and a nasty glare at Naruto, Sasuke finally bit out, "I'm from Kentucky. Louisville, Kentucky."

Naruto doubled over in laughter, "Like Kentucky Fried Chicken!" There was an audible noise of recognition from the class, followed by a few titters of laughter. "'s why your Japanese is so bad, yeah?"

"I think your Japanese is excellent, Sasuke-kun!" Haruno Sakura suddenly declared, bolting up to stand behind her desk and slamming her hands on the table top. "Don't you listen to what Naruto has to say, everyone knows he's an idiot!"There was a murmur of agreement from most of the female class, notably save Hinata, who seemed to be the only one who noticed how crestfallen Naruto was after Sakura's comment. 

"All right, all right, that's enough," Kakashi-sensei came to stand next to Sasuke. "We do actually have to have class today. Uchiha-kun, your seat is behind Hyuuga-chan. Hyuuga-chan, please raise your hand." 

Hinata swallowed hard as her female classmates turned to glare at her. A good, good year, yeah? Just remember that, she said to herself, raising her hand and even managing a small smile at Sasuke. He just blinked, picked up his bag and went to his seat. 

Hinata swore she could hear her classmates' heads turning as they all craned their necks to get a better look at Sasuke. In her opinion, there wasn't much special about him, just another teenager with dark eyes and dark hair stuffed into a school uniform. It was clear from the class' reaction that she was missing something. They all acted as if they were gazing upon the glorious visage of a vengeful god. From the looks of it, most of the female class were signing on to be his acolytes. That was a strange thing to do for someone you'd just met, in Hinata's eyes. 

Sighing, Hinata turned in her seat to pull a notebook from her school bag. The notebook seemed stuck in the bag, so Hinata yanked on it; something that had been caught on the wire binding of the notebook flew off and made a forcible landing on Sasuke's desk. 

Time seemed to slow down as Hinata realized what had just happened: a tampon flew from her bag and landed on the exchange student's desk. Luckily he had his head down so she could reach out and grab it-- but like she had tripped a proximity alarm with her hand, Sasuke lifted his head and glared at her. 

She froze. 

His line of sight travelled down her arm, landing on her hand just inches from the spurious tampon.  "Oh, god, really, on my first day? That's nasty, you're nasty," he said accusingly, using a pencil to roll the tampon closer to Hinata. "Take it, put it away, I don't wanna see that shit again, that's nasty," he repeated.  

Hinata snatched the tampon away from Sasuke, a horrifed look on her face. "I-I d-didn't mean to! It just f-flew out! I-I'm so s-sorry!"

"Sasuke bothering you, Hinata-chan?" Naruto dashed to her aid. 

"She was bothering me," Sasuke said simply. "She put one of those girl things on my desk." He pointed to the tampon in Hinata's hand.

"Girl things--oh," Naruto's face grew almost as red as Hinata's. "I don't know about that, Hinata-chan's a real nice girl, not a creep like you--" 

"Sasuke-kun is not a creep!" Sakura stomped up to their little gathering. "If he said Hinata's bothering him, then Hinata's bothering him!" Sakura caught sight of the tampon in Hinata's hand. "Put that away, Hinata-chan, that's not decent." 

Kakashi rapped on the blackboard. "Excuse me? I do have a class to teach, this is a school, an institution of learning. Everybody get back to your seats and maybe we can actually have class." He moved to write on the board, paused, and glanced back at Hinata. "Hyuuga-chan, put the feminine hygiene products away. You're scandalizing your classmates."

Hinata's face burned, a beacon of embarrassment.

It's gonna be a good, good year, she reminded herself, tucking the tampon securely into her bag. A good, good year.

A good, good year.


	2. You Make My Dreams Come True

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updated weekly, on Sundays

Sasuke shuffled onto the train behind Naruto, elbowing his way through the throng of students to claim a seat. He was the only student in the car that took a seat, the rest seeming to prefer to stand.

Whatever.

Japan was weird.

Sasuke scowled, hoping his ill will could be felt in America, in Kentucky, where his parents and brother were no doubt snuggled in their beds. Damn them. Damn them, and damn Itachi. His brother had spent a year in Japan and had come back so "cultured" and "worldly"; damn his parents for thinking his "horizons needed expanding." Sasuke's horizons were plenty wide, thank you very much, that was what the Internet was for!

Drifting through his thoughts came a lilting murmur, someone singing softly under her breath. Sasuke grunted and shifted in his seat; the tune was vaguely familiar, and the words, when he could make them out, were in English.

Leaning forward in his seat, Sasuke scanned the car for the songstress, cursing loudly when a bag nearly hit him in the face.

The owner of the bad spun around, and apology already tumbling from her lips. "Oh, I'm--I'm so sorry, Uchiha-san," the girl said, her apology muffled by her hands in front of her mouth.

Sasuke scowled, narrowing his eyes at her; he knew this girl, knew this bag. Yes, this was the weird girl who sat in front of him, the tampon girl. "Hinata," he said finally. She nodded dumbly. "Were you singing just now?"

Sasuke didn't have to finish the sentence for Hinata to blush and put her hands on her cheeks. "You heard me?"

He looked at her blankly for a moment, "Uh, yeah. What were you singing? I recognized the song."

"Oh, um," Hinata fumbled with her phone for a moment before showing Sasuke the song displayed. "It's Hall & Oates, I really like them--."

Sasuke interrupted her with a loud groan and slouched back into his seat. "Really? Hall & Oates? Nobody even listens to them in America!"

The pale eyed girl pursed her lips indignantly, "W-Well, I listen to them, and I like them--."

"Yeah, so does my grandma!" He cut her off again.

Hinata looked at him for a moment, her ridiculously pale face turning an even more ridiculous shade of red. She bowed to him, her long, dark hair brushing his knees. It was hard to believe, but her breasts were even paler than the rest of her.

Not that he was looking down her shirt. 

"Thank you for your t-time, Uchiha-san," Hinata mumbled before straightening and turning away. She put her headphones back on-- real headphones, nice ones, not earbuds-- effectively blocking Sasuke out before he had time to protest.

Tch.

Whatever.

She could listen to her shitty pop music if she wanted to.

>>

Sasuke was about two minutes from slamming his head into his desk, repeatedly. He hated English class-- it was Japanese he struggled with, English was his mother tongue! Listening to his classmates stumble their way through simple phrases with their atrocious accents was mind-numbing.

The only one who could speak English at all was the tampon girl Hyuuga, but she rarely volunteered to speak. It seemed like English class was a hell designed especially for Sasuke.

>>

"Alright, class, that's enough English for today, let's move on to Chemistry," Kakashi-sensei said, walking into the classroom after the bell mercifully ended an eternity of stuttered idioms. Chemistry was Sasuke's favorite class, if only because most of the terminology was in English, Latin, or Greek, and not Japanese. "Today I'll be assigning lab partners-- it's alphabetical, so don't get too excited. When I call your name, join your partner at the assigned lab station. So, Aburame and Akimichi, station one."

Sasuke cast a critical eye across the classroom. Most people were fairly competent, and he could stand being partnered with them. But Naruto-- oh, God, _Uzumaki_  Naruto-- Sasuke could only hope that Kakashi-sensei paired him with Ubara Makoto and not Uzumaki Naruto.

"Haruno and Hyuuga, station seven...." Kakashi's voice rose as the students began to gather at the lab stations. "Nagasawa and Nara, station eleven...." Sasuke could feel his muscles grow tenser as his teacher neared the end of his list. "Tsukino and Ubara...."

NO!

Kakashi read the death sentence: "Uchiha and Uzumaki, station fourteen."

Sasuke's head connected with the desk with a sick thud.


	3. Cool Kids

The ringing of the bell didn't disrupt Kakashi's rhythm of writing on the board at all. "All right, kids, that's the lunch bell, go do your thing." As the students began to get up and mill about, he spoke over the din, "Make sure you write this equation down when you get back, it's very important!" Shaking his head, the teacher finished his equation and grabbed his own bag, departing for lunch. 

Hinata remained in her seat even as she finished copying the equation off the board; it was unseasonably chilly that day and she didn't want to eat lunch outside... even if that was where everybody else was. Besides, it looked like it might rain.

Kicking off her shoes, Hinata pulled her bento box from her book bag. She slid the lid off of the box and grabbed her chopsticks as she stood and slipped out from behind her desk. At least if she was alone she could hum and sing and no one would ask her to stop!

Her hips swaying along to the words she mumbled around the sushi in her mouth, Hinata danced around the classroom. With a twirl, she boldly sat on Naruto's desk, something she often wished she could do, if only she weren't so shy. Hinata imagined her classmates' reactions to her sitting on Naruto's desk while he were there, and the thought of Kiba and Shino's faces made her giggle out loud.

"Hinata-chan?" Sakura slid the classroom door open with a puzzled look.

"Oh! Haruno-chan!" Hinata gulped her food and hopped off of Naruto's desk like it was ablaze. "Were you looking for me?"

Sakura entered the room, sliding the door closed behind her again. "Yeah, I was just wondering if I could eat lunch with you? I mean, since we're going to be lab partners, maybe we should get to know each other?" The last statement sounded more like a question and Hinata smiled gently, wondering if maybe Sakura was as nervous making new friends as she was.

"T-that'd be nice," Hinata said, making her way over to her own desk. "I'm s-sorry you caught me-- I, I was just being silly."

Sakura smiled back at her classmate. "It looked like you were having fun." She sat at Sasuke's desk, looking much more confident about being there than Hinata had looked at Naruto's desk. "Do you like to dance?"

"O-oh!" Hinata ducked her head, blushing. "I-- y-yes, I do. My m-mother and I used to dance a lot."

"Used to?" Sakura asked, slurping a noodle from her bento box.

Hinata looked at the ground, "She passed away when my little sister was born."

Dropping her chopsticks, Sakura stammered, "I'm so sorry, I didn't know." There was a silence, and Hinata picked at her food until Sakura asked, "Do you miss her?"

"Very much," Hinata nodded, turning and smiling at her classmate. "But I feel closer to her when I'm dancing, or listening to music."

"That's good," Sakura returned Hinata's smile. She looked out the window, "Why don't you eat with everyone else?"

Hinata froze. "I-I don't know," she shrugged. "I guess I l-like being alone."

Sakura frowned, and Hinata could see genuine concern in her eyes. "Me and Ino, you know, we're always wondering where you are. You're so nice, but you never hang out with anyone besides Kiba-kun and Shino-kun. I guess, I guess we just worry sometimes. That you're lonely." The word speared Hinata through the heart; she tried very hard to hide her loneliness, and from the sounds of it, she was succeeding. But that didn't make her happy or proud. Hinata's head bowed low as she felt the weight of her self-imposed solitude press down.

"I don't know," Hinata said, truthfully this time. "It just seems like everyone else, even Kiba-kun and Shino-kun, they seem to fit in. I'm just... afraid."

"Everyone's afraid, Hinata-chan. I'm afraid when I talk to Sasuke-kun, or one of the teachers," Sakura admitted. "But when you have lots of people to support you, they make you strong."

Hinata nodded slowly, "Yeah..."

"And if you started talking to more people, imagine, maybe you could meet someone special!" Sakura grew excited at the thought. "With them backing you up, I'd bet you could do anything!"

Hinata glanced back at Naruto's desk, her cheeks growing pink. It was true: if she were more outgoing, Naruto might actually notice her. And then who knows? She tried very hard not to picture her dream wedding.

Turning back to Sakura, Hinata asked softly, "Will you support me?"

"Of course!" was Sakura's instant response. "Oh, Hinata-chan, I'm so excited-- oh, and stop calling me Haruno-chan, Sakura will do!" She reached out to take one of Hinata's hands in hers. "I promise, you can dance with me, Hinata-chan!"

 >>

Hinata usually rode the train home alone because Neji had kendo practice after school, but today she stood with Sakura and Ino. It was amusing to Hinata to observe Sakura and Ino together, for if she thought Sakura was boisterous, Ino was ten times worse!

"So I gave him my phone number and he just said 'What a drag'! Can you believe it?" Ino illustrated her story with sweeping arm and hand movements. "I was like, please. If you don't appreciate me, there are other boys who will, you know what I'm saying?"

Hinata giggled behind her hand, not really understanding Ino's story but enjoying her company.

"What about you, Hinata-chan?" Ino turned to Hinata. "Do you have any boy troubles?"

"O-oh! N-no, not really," Hinata said, blushing despite herself. "To have b-boy troubles you have to.... k-know some."

Sakura threw her head back with laughter. "Oh, so Shino-kun and Kiba-kun don't count?"

"N-no," Hinata shook her head. "They're more like b-brothers."

"Oh!" Ino squealed. "Someone should tell Kiba-kun that!"

"He knows," Hinata stated, but then looked at the other girls with panicked eyes, "doesn't he?"

Sakura laughed again and threw a glance over to where most of their male classmates were standing. "Uh, oh, they're coming over here. Prepare yourselves, ladies." She slipped her hand into the crook of Hinata's elbow, offering silent support.

"Hey, I heard my name, you girls talkin' about me?" Kiba asked loudly, coming to stand by Hinata's shoulder.

Ino tossed her hair over her shoulder and snorted. "I think you're hearing things, Kiba-kun."

"Nonsense!" he gave a bark of laughter. "I have great hearing-- like a dog!"

"He's got breath like a dog, too," Sasuke muttered, following Naruto as he joined their circle. 

"How do you know that, Uchiha-kun?" Hinata asked innocently, her face immediately immolating as the group erupted in raucous laughter.

"Oh my god, Hinata-chan," Kiba wheezed, clutching his stomach.

Naruto looked at her with an expression like awe. "Hinata-chan, I didn't know you had it in you."

Hinata giggled awkwardly and tried to avoid the glower Sasuke was sending her way. "I-- I didn't m-mean it like that."

"Aw, he's not mad at you!" Naruto said, giving Sasuke a hearty slap on the back. "His face just always looks like that. Isn't that right, Sasu-chan?"

"Hn," Sasuke grunted and turned away, pointedly ignoring the group.

"You're no fun," Naruto said to Sasuke's back. "I'm going to tell Iruka-san that you're not playing well with others."

Sasuke scoffed, "What's he going to do, ground me?"

"Sasu-chan lives with me and Iruka-san," Naruto explained, rubbing the back of his head. "He just stays in his room most of the time."

"You live with Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked with disbelief.

Hinata spoke up softly, "I-It must be hard to live with s-such an unpleasant person."

"Eh, it's not so bad, Hinata-chan!" Naruto admitted. "Like I said, I don't see him most of the time."

Sasuke turned to face the group with a scowl, "I'm right here, you know."

Hinata's face burned but Naruto just laughed, "Yeah, man, like we could forget!"

"I don't think you're unpleasant, Sasuke-kun," Sakura piped up. "I think you're _very_  pleasant."

"Me, too," Ino nodded along with Sakura's declaration.

Sasuke rewarded them with another scowl and turned away again.

Naruto grabbed his arm, "Hey, Sasu-chan, this is our stop." Sasuke gave Naruto a glare and tore his arm out of Naruto's grasp.

"Eh, whatever," Naruto shrugged and rubbed the back of his head again. "I'll see you guys tomorrow." He looked at Hinata, "It was good talking to you, Hinata-chan."

Hinata's face burned but was adorned with a dreamy smile. "See you, N-Naruto-kun."

As Kiba, Naruto, and Sasuke got off the train, Sakura nudged Hinata with her shoulder. "See!" she squealed. "What did I tell you?"

"Yeah, thanks, Sakura-chan," Hinata reached for Sakura's hand and gave it a squeeze. "M-maybe things will get better!"

"With us to back you up, there's no way Naruto won't notice you!" Ino said, slinging an arm around Sakura's and Hinata's shoulders.

"Y-you know what," Hinata said, smiling at her new friends, "it's gonna be a good, good year."


	4. It's Raining Men

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please excuse the week-long hiatus! I had my wisdom teeth taken out on the 17th and I was in a daze for like 5 days. And then when I tried to update last Tuesday, my tablet decided to be an asshole. I'm sorry, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

"Rise and shine, Sasu-chan!" Naruto sang, flinging open the door to Sasuke's room and banging on the wall.

Sasuke groaned and threw a pillow at Naruto's head, refusing to move from his comfy spot in bed. "Get out, loser!" He had been having a lovely dream about being home in Kentucky, far away from Konoha in Japan and all its weird inhabitants.

Naruto began to beat the wall at a faster tempo. "Come on, man, we've got medical exams at school today, so get up and look alive!"

"Naruto, stop that racket or so help me--!" roared an irate voice from the floor below.

Naruto looked over his shoulder sheepishly. "Hey, Iruka-san, I'm just getting Sasuke-kun up!" he called loudly down the stairs.

An exasperated sigh could be heard. "Well, do it more quietly!"

Sasuke sat up in his bed in defeat and rubbed his eyes. "I don't know how your neighbors ever sleep."

  
"Heh heh, you seem to manage just fine, Sasu-chan," Naruto said, pulling down the skin below his eye and sticking out his tongue.

There was an unintelligible grumble as Sasuke rolled out of bed and just lay on the floor for a minute. "What kind of school has medical exams anyways?" he asked, squinting up at his housemate. "And this is a really bad angle for you, by the way."

"Dude, all Japanese schools have medical exams," Naruto picked up the pillow at his feet and lobbed it back at Sasuke. "You gotta be healthy to learn, yeah? Now come on, Iruka-san's making us breakfast." He disappeared from Sasuke's doorway, and noisy thumping could be heard descending the steps.

Sasuke rolled over onto his stomach, burying his nose into the carpet for a moment. He must be ill if anything Naruto said made any kind of logical sense.

He pulled himself up with a grunt and slumped down the stairs. Sniffing suspiciously, Sasuke rounded the corner into the kitchen. "Are you making fish?"

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun," Iruka said, not even glancing over his shoulder at his second ward. "And yes, I've made you both boiled fish, white rice, and natto for breakfast today. Can't have your school think I'm not feeding you!" Grabbing a plate, he served up a fish, dishing out some rice and natto. Turning, Iruka handed the plate to Sasuke. "Eat up!"

"What the hell is this?" Sasuke asked, staring at the plate in his hands.

"'s breakfast!" Naruto supplied helpfully through a mouthful of fish.

Sasuke gingerly poked the boiled fish with his finger. It was a whole fish, skin on and everything. It was... disgusting. "This is literally a fish."

Iruka lowered the newspaper he had just settled down to read, a stern look in his eye. "Sasuke, I understand that this is unlike the breakfasts you are used to in America, but it is tasty and nutritious. You actually get protein from fish and beans, unlike those sugary cardboard bits you Americans like to call cereal." He looked Sasuke in the eye. "So you can eat this breakfast that I got up extra early for and worked so hard to make for you, or you can just not eat. Your choice." Iruka picked up his newspaper again and continued to read without missing a beat.

Damn. The man was brutal.

 

>>

 

Sasuke's stomach growled loudly as he climbed the stairs to the third floor with his male classmates, but he doggedly ignored it. His pride (and his sensibilities) would not allow for him to eat the fish, but now he was wondering if the rice and natto would have been that bad.

"Heh heh, wishing you had eaten now, huh, Sasu-chan?" Naruto teased, poking Sasuke's stomach, which replied with a fierce growl.

Sasuke scowled and swatted his hand away. "No! I'm fine. What are we doing anyway?" They boys were now lined up outside of a classroom on the third floor, inexplicably waiting.

"Were you not listening during home room at all?" Naruto asked. "We're up here for the medical exam. The girls are on the second floor, they try to separate us to stop the boys from peeping." He laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "A bunch of us got caught last year, I wonder if anyone is going to try this year?"

Sasuke threw Naruto an exhasperated look. "Is it even worth it? Can you even see anything?"

"I don't know, man," Naruto admitted. "I got caught last year before I even had a chance. But, man, if I could get a look at Sakura-chan...." he trailed off dreamily.

"Pervert," Sasuke snorted.

"Don't knock it 'til you've tried it," Naruto jabbed Sasuke with his elbow. "Some of the girls in our class are hiding some really great attributes, if you know what I'm saying."

Sasuke shook his head, "You're awful."

"Hey, Naruto," a voice came from behind the pair. Sasuke and Naruto whirled around to find Shikamaru leaning casually against the wall behind them, looking as nonchalant as anything. "Are you gonna try it this year?"

"I don't know, man," Naruto said, scratching his head. "After what happened last year--"

"They've made it even easier this year," Shikamaru interjected, looking around furtively. "Listen-- we're in the east wing of the high school. According to my sources, so are the girls, except on the second floor. So, all you've gotta do is sneak around to the west wing. From there, you should be able to look across the courtyard and see the girls. Easy, right?"

Sasuke glanced at Naruto, who seemed to be considering it, then turned back to Shikamaru. "How do you know all this?" Shikamaru just shrugged. Rolling his eyes, Sasuke asked, "Are you going to do it?"

Shikamaru snorted a laugh, "No way, man, it's way too troublesome."

"So you're just going to give people the information, then sit back and watch the fallout?"

"Yeah, basically," Shikamaru shrugged again.

The door in front of the classmates slid open and a woman stepped out. "Hello, my name is Shizune-san, and I'll be the nurse conducting medical exams for the boys of class 2-B today. If you could all line up against the wall, I'll see you one by one. Once I've completed the exam, you may return to your homeroom classroom. Do you understand?" Shizune asked, and there was a low murmur of assent.

The boys shuffled around, arranging themselves by who wanted to get back to class more; strangely, Naruto and Sasuke found themselves at the front of the line. Oh well, Sasuke thought, at least he wouldn't be standing, bored, in this hall for an eternity. He would get the privilege of being bored whilst sitting down.

  
Shizune-san checked her clipboard, "Uzumaki Naruto, you're first?"

  
Naruto scratched at the back of his head, "Hah, yeah, I guess I am, Shizune-san."

  
"Alright," she said, scribbling something on her paper with a smile. "Just come with me and we'll get started." She stepped back so Naruto could enter the room, and then slid the door closed behind her.

  
Sasuke let his head fall back against the wall. Maybe he was wrong, and he would be here for an eternity. Things would be slightly less boring if someone would talk to him, but all his classmates knew of his anti-social bent. Besides, did he really want to talk to any of these idiots? Shikamaru was the only one with half a brain, but he seemed stuck on selling his peeping scheme today. Whatever.

Just as Sasuke's eyes were beginning to cross from boredom, Naruto emerged from the exam room with a broad smile on his face, exclaiming, "It's a boy!"

Sasuke blinked.

"Oh, come on, like when a baby's born and the doctor-- you know what, nevermind," Naruto shook his head with a laugh. "I shouldn't be wasting my jokes on someone who has absolutely no sense of humor." He gave Sasuke an odd little salute, "See you back in class, Sasu-chan!"

Shizune-san tapped Sasuke on the shoulder, "Alright, young man, it's your turn. And you are?"

  
"Uchiha Sasuke," he mumbled, slouching his way into the room.

"Ah, so you're the exchange student," she said, sliding the door closed. "Welcome to Japan."

He grunted.

Shizune flipped to a page in her chart, and began to write. "There's no need to be nervous, this is a very basic exam. It's just so the school knows that you're healthy and able to learn. I'll ask you some questions, take your measurements, and we'll do a chest and abdominal exam. Then you'll be done. Nothing to worry about, yes?"

Sasuke gave her a glare, then pointedly looked away.

"Good," Shizune said, as if Sasuke had answered. "We will begin now. When is your birthday?"

"July 23," he mumbled, still facing away from her.

With a scribble on her paper, Shizune asked, "And how old will you be?"

"Seventeen," he said tonelessly.

"How tall are you?" was the next question.

Sasuke groaned. "Five foot ten."

Shizune scrawled some quick numbers in the corner of her paper. "Aha, 178 centimeters. We'll check that, just to be sure. How much do you weigh?"

"175 pounds."

With some more calculation, Shizune announced, "79 kilograms. Alright." She leaned forward in her seat, peering closely at Sasuke. "Hair and eye color I can tell for myself," she said, mostly to herself, writing on her chart again.

Sasuke looked out the window for a moment-- gray skies again-- and when he looked back, Shizune was brandishing a tape measure like an instrument of torture. "Time for your measurements!" she stated cheerfully.

  
She measured his height (actually 176 centimeters), took his weight (80 kilograms), and measured his arms and his height from the chair while sitting, though Sasuke didn't know how useful that information could be. Though it did turn out most of his height was in his legs. Huh.

Finally, Shizune-san listened to his lungs and his heart, then had him take off his shirt and lie down on the exam table.

The table was cold, and his stomach let out a loud, prolonged, ominous growl, as if in protest to the chilly surface.

Shizune turned around with a puzzled look on her face. "What was that?"

"I dunno," Sasuke said, staring at the ceiling.

"Well," the nurse pulled on a pair of vinyl gloves, "I guess we'll get started then." She reached out with her hands and placed them on his stomach, gently kneading to feel his organs. When Sasuke's stomach let out a raucous, painful-sounding growl, Shizune stopped and threw him a flat look. "You didn't eat breakfast this morning. Don't bother lying to me, I can tell. Your stomach is completely empty!" She punctuated her exclamation with a sharp push to his stomach.

  
"So what?" Sasuke asked saltily.

Shizune sniffed indignantly, "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for everyone, but especially for adolescents, whose bodies are changing and growing." She leaned back to flash a piercing look at his eyes. "It is also important to eat before school so your body and mind have the energy to learn." Shizune stepped back from the table and took off her gloves. "Well, we're done. But I want you to eat breakfast every day, Uchiha-kun, do you hear me?"

Feeling mildly intimidated, Sasuke pulled his shirt back on and mumbled, "Yes, ma'am."

"Good," Shizune scrawled a final note on her chart. "You're free to go."

  
"Hn," Sasuke walked out the door, shoving his hands in his pockets. Damn nurse thinks she can tell him what to do! Who cares if he was starving, now Sasuke wasn't going to eat breakfast out of spite. That'll show her.

He scowled, walking down the hallway with clipped steps until he was pulled into a classroom. Sasuke whirled around and swatted at the assailant's hand, sneering when he saw it was Naruto. "What do you want?"

"Sasu-chan, I went over to the west wing like Shikamaru said, and oh, man, the view is great! You should come check it out, yeah!" Naruto exclaimed, his cheeks flush with excitement.

"How about no," Sasuke said flatly. "I doubt it's that gratifying, and even if it is, then what? You've got the world's most useless boner."

  
Naruto shifted awkwardly, surreptitiously shifting his lower body behind a desk.

"I bet you're just scared you're gonna get caught!"

Sasuke scowled darkly, "I'm not scared I'm gonna get caught because I wouldn't be dumb enough to get caught. But I'm not gonna spy on some underdeveloped girls to get my rocks off, that's what the internet is for."

"But, man, those girls aren't real!" Naruto protested. "I still just think you're afraid-- Oh!" A sly smile spread across his face. "Do you have a crush on someone, Sasu-chan? And you're embarrassed to see her? That's so cute!"

"God, no," Sasuke pulled a disgusted face. "Like I would want to be with any of the girls in our class! They're all pathetic."

Naruto smiled widely, "Aw, Sasu-chan has a crush and wants to protect her modesty! You're so chivalrous, Sasu-chan! I can totally understand if that's why you don't want to peep."

"Naruto, I don't have a crush, you dumbass," Sasuke seethed.

"Who's the lucky girl? Is it Ino-chan?" Naruto babbled on. "Please tell me it's not Sakura-chan!"

"Oh my god-- Naruto!" Sasuke was on the verge of shouting. "I don't--! Oh, my god, fine, I'll do it, just shut up!"

Naruto ceased his chatter immediately, "Aw, Sasuke, I knew you'd come around! Come on!" He peeked out the door of the empty classroom they were in, looking this way and that to make sure the coast was clear. Naruto waved over his shoulder at Sasuke, "This way!"

  
Sasuke heaved a heavy sigh and followed Naruto. He crouched slightly, scuttling behind his classmate as they sneaked their way into the west wing.

  
Finally Naruto dove into an open classroom door and rushed up to the window.

"Over here, Sasu-chan!" he pointed to a window on the lower floor at the opposite side of the courtyard. Sure enough, the door opened and a buxom blond woman in a lab coat entered, followed by a girl with dark hair.

"Who's that?" Naruto asked himself. "I don't recognize her. Maybe they're done, and this is class 2-C."

The girl turned towards the window, and Sasuke saw a flash of pale eyes. "Hyuuga," he muttered.

  
Naruto looked at him with wide eyes, "That's Hinata-chan?" By the time the boys turned back to the window, Hinata had removed her shirt. She stood, clad in her skirt and a plain white bra, with her arms crossed over her stomach.

"Damn," he said quietly. "Hinata-chan's got some nunga-nungas."

Sasuke snorted, "What?"

"You know," Naruto said absently, his eyes trained on the window across the courtyard, "Nunga-nungas. Ta-tas. Boobies."

"Boobies? Oh my god," Sasuke said. "What are you, 12?"

"Nah, man, I'm 16," Naruto stood up and turned away from the window. "Damn, who knew Hinata-chan was such a babe? My mind is blown, man, I think I'm done."

Sasuke shrugged, "Whatever. I think I'm gonna stay up here; I don't want to go back to class and it's quiet here."

"Sure, Sasu-chan," Naruto walked to the door. He waved to Sasuke as he walked out the door, "See ya!"

Sasuke glanced back across the courtyard. The room was empty; Hinata's exam must have ended.

He got up and paced around the classroom, then looked out the window again. Purely out of curiosity, of course, not because he wanted to peep or anything. The exam room was still empty, and Sasuke figured that class 2-B's exams must be over.

Maybe he should get back to class.

Or maybe not.

He sauntered over to the teacher's desk, and lay down on it on his back. Staring at the ceiling, Sasuke counted the ceiling tiles until he heard footsteps and low voices in the hall.

Shit.

"Are you sure it was this classroom?" That was Kakashi's voice.

There was the sound of a soft voice, too quiet to make out the words.

Shit.

The footsteps drew nearer, and Sasuke began to panic. If he went out the door into the hallway he would incriminate himself. If he stayed in the classroom, he'd get caught--

The window.

Sasuke rushed over to the window as quietly as he could and pulled it open. Leaning out, he scanned his surroundings. There was a ledge under the window he could stand on, and there was a covered walkway under the windows of the next classroom. He could get onto the ledge, scoot over to the walkway, and jump onto the roof of the walkway. From there he'd just jump down to the ground. Cool.

He stepped out onto the ledge and caught his breath. Fuck, he'd acquired a sudden fear of heights. But he could hear the door's handle jiggle, so he closed his eyes and scooted sideways until he was out of view of the window.

The classroom door slid open, and Sasuke could hear the footsteps of Kakashi and, presumably, a female student.

"The room is empty, Hyuuga-chan," Kakashi said. "Are you sure you saw someone?"

"Y-yes, sir," Hinata's voice was so soft, Sasuke could barely hear it.

"Well, they must have left," Kakashi sighed. "Thank you for letting me know, Hyuuga-chan. I'll look into it."

Sasuke's stomach growled.

"W-what was that?" came Hinata's gentle voice.

"I don't know," Kakashi said, "it sounded like it came from the window."

Sasuke could hear footsteps nearing the window and held his breath.

A very long moment passed.

The footsteps walked away from the window. "I didn't see anything, it must have been some sort of bird. Let's get back to class, Hyuuga-chan," Kakashi said.

"Yes, sir," Hinata replied, and Sasuke heard the door slide closed again.

He let out the breath he was holding and slumped back against the wall for a moment before scooting over to the covered walkway.

It was about a 15-foot drop, and Sasuke knew it wouldn't kill him. So why was he so scared?

He imagined Naruto's reaction to the situation.

"Ha ha! Sasuke's a pussy!"

  
Sasuke scowled and jumped onto the roof of the walkway before he could talk himself out of it. It was a jarring landing, but there was no major damage, so Sasuke rolled over to the edge of the roof.

He dropped down onto the ground and dusted himself off.

From behind him, he heard, "Look, Sakura-chan, it's raining Sasuke-kun!"

  
He sighed. Today was not his day.


	5. Worth It

Hinata sighed and closed her eyes, tipping her head back. She was certain she had seen somebody in that classroom across the courtyard, maybe even two someones, and it had been driving her to distraction all day at school. She even gave the wrong answer to an English question asked by Kurenai-sensei because she hadn't been paying attention. It was mortifying! No, it wasn't bad enough to be peeped on, then she had to fail in such a public way! She shuddered.

Adjusting her headphones, Hinata shifted closer to Sakura-chan. Neji-nii-san was at kendo again today, so she rode with Sakura, but Sakura was studying at a test for her cram school that night. It was a quiet ride.

She turned to look out the window of the train and caught Sasuke's eye. He was staring at her. Hinata surreptitiously looked around to confirm it; Sasuke was blatantly staring at her! That was odd, why on Earth would Uchiha Sasuke be starting at her?

Or more specifically, her breasts.

Hinata flushed an especially intense shade of red and turned away quickly. She even turned her music up for good measure.

Was he still staring at her? Hinata wondered. She felt supremely uncomfortable, and she could imagine she felt his eyes on her back. Hinata glanced over her shoulder, disguising it as a stretch.

Oh god, he was still looking at her!

Thankfully the next stop was Hinata's, so she folded into herself and listened to her music, very pointedly not thinking about Uchiha Sasuke.

As soon as the door opened, Hinata scuttled off the train and hurried out of the station, but somehow she could still feel Sasuke's eyes on her back.

Maybe she was going insane.

>>

Dinner at the Hyuuga household was always an awkward affair; one was expected not to speak unless directly addressed by Hyuuga Hiashi, and Hiashi rarely spoke during meals.

Hinata picked at her sashimi, pulling it apart with her chopsticks and rearranging it on her plate. Everything going on at school had really spoiled her appetite, between peepers, Sakura's distraction with the cram test, her public embarrassment during English class and then Uchiha-kun's staring! How could a girl be expected to go on?

"Hinata," a low rumbling voice broke her preoccupation. "Why are you not eating?" There was an undercurrent of impatience in her father's voice; he had more important things to worry about than whether his eldest daughter was eating, or so Hinata imagined.

Her cheeks flushed and she bowed her head, "I-I'm sorry, Father. I'm j-just not hungry t-tonight." Hinata idly wondered if her family could even see her red cheeks in the dimly lit dining room, but quickly chastised herself for thinking such a thing. Of course they could see her embarrassment, Hyuuga eyes never missed anything.

Hiashi exhaled slowly and loudly through his nose. "You are not hungry?" He echoed his daughter.

"Y-yes, sir," Hinata said, almost a whisper.

"Is this food unsatifactory?" Hiashi leaned slightly forward in his seat. Neji looked at Hinata with concern in his eyes, while Hanabi was pointedly focused on her food.

"N-no, sir!" Hinata leaned back slightly, trying to escape her father's smothering aura. "I am just n-not h-hungry!"

Hiashi frowned. "Perhaps it is the company you are not fond of."

"F-father!" Hinata protested. "Please! I-I am not f-feeling well, that i-is all!"

"Oji-sama," Neji cut in, and Hinata flashed him a panicked look. "Gai-sensei has asked me to serve as the Kendo Team captain." Neji placed his hand on top of Hinata's under the table, attempting to quell her fears. Hiashi despised being interrupted.

Hiashi looked at Neji sternly. "He has, has he? Did you accept?"

"No," Neji shook his head. "I wanted to obtain your blessing first. If I were to be the team captain, it would cut into the time I would be able to spend with the family at home."

The corners of Hiashi's mouth quirked up in a facsimile of a smile. "You honor the Hyuuga with your foresight and obedience, nephew. You may serve as the Kendo Team captain, with my blessing." He looked at Hinata, "You would do well to learn from your cousin, Hinata."

She nodded her head, "Yes, s-sir."

The meal continued in blessed silence.

>>

"Ane-chan!" Hanabi followed Hinata into her room after dinner. "What's wrong, Ane-chan? You seem sad."

"Sad?" Hinata repeated. "No, not sad." She hung up her school uniform in the closet, neat and ready to wear again the next day. "Distracted, maybe, but not sad." Hinata sat on her bed next to her little sister. "Don't worry, Hanabi-chan, it's just school stuff. You'll be distracted when you get into high school, too!"

Hanabi looked at Hinata cheekily. "Is it boy stuff? I bet it's boy stuff."

"Hanabi!" Hinata exclaimed, mortified. "Why would you think that?"

Shrugging, Hanabi said, "Isn't that what high schoolers worry about? Love?"

Hinata giggled, "There's more to high school than that. We have to worry about all our school classes, plus any cram schools and clubs. Then we have to worry about university and scholarships and what we want to study." She shook her head. "Honestly, I don't know how anybody has time to worry about love on top of that."

"I don't think my manga is lying to me, Hinata-chan," Hanabi said. "You have to be in love in high school. What about that blond guy you used to follow around? Are you in love with him?"

"Imouto-chan! W-what do you mean? W-what blond guy?" Hinata's eyes darted around as she tried to hedge the question.

"Ane-chan, you can't lie to me!" Hanabi laughed. "When you were in middle school and you picked me up from elementary school, you followed that guy around like a shadow, and when you weren't following him, you were watching him!"

Hinata blushed brightly. "W-was I really? Oh, n-no." She covered her face with her hands. "D-did anyone e-else notice?"

Hanabi shrugged. "I don't know, but he never seemed to notice. Honestly he seemed kind of dense."

"Imouto-chan! Naruto-kun isn't dense!" Hinata scolded her sister. "He's just very easily distracted."

"See, Ane-chan," Hanabi pulled at Hinata's cheek, "you're totally in love!"

Hinata colored again. "M-maybe I am, Hanabi-chan!" She began tickling Hanabi's sides. "What about you, Imouto-chan, are you in love? Is there someone you like?"

"No way!" Hanabi cried. "All of the boys my age are dumb!" She wriggled out of Hinata's grasp. "There's no one worth loving yet."

"That's a really mean thing to say, Hanabi-chan," Hinata chided, laying back on her bed. She looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully. "Naruto-kun is worth loving because he cares so genuinely about everyone, even people who don't care about him." Hinata rolled over onto her side, facing Hanabi. "My friend Sakura-chan is worth loving because she uses her intelligence to help people. And Naruto-kun's friend Uchiha-kun is worth loving because...." She paused. She was sure Sasuke was worth loving, but why? "He's worth loving because.... Well, I'm sure Uchiha-kun is worth loving." Hinata would have to find out why.


	6. We Didn't Start the Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I don't know if you've noticed, but every chapter title is a song title.....
> 
> I've made an 8tracks playlist so you can listen to the songs referenced in each chapter title!
> 
> I hope you like 80's music...
> 
> http://8tracks.com/fleacollar999/a-good-good-year-1

How does she do it? It had to be the hundredth time Sasuke had asked himself today, but really-- it was mind boggling!

When Hyuuga Hinata was wearing her school uniform, she looked like any other normal, developing teenage girl. But when she took her shirt off? Nunga-nungas, indeed. (Sasuke was going to have to kill Naruto for teaching him that word.) How was it that her school uniform could make her boobs look so much... smaller?

Sasuke couldn't get the image of Hinata standing in the exam room, only wearing her frumpy white bra on top, out of his head. It wasn't sexy, it was mystifying! She could bend over to reach into her bag without toppling face first-- shouldn't she fall over from being top heavy? How could she even get her shirt on?

Sasuke sat at his desk, hunched over with narrowed eyes and hands clasped in front of his mouth, staring at the back of Hinata's head. He had been... observing her for the past few days since the medical exam. Sasuke was sure that Hinata hadn't noticed his scrutiny; he was capable of being subtle, unlike a certain blond idiot.

"Alright, class," Kakashi-sensei called from the front of the room, "please meet up with your lab partners and head to your lab stations. We're going to do an orientation on your basic lab equipment. So put on your goggles and wait for more instructions."

Sasuke pulled himself out of his seat and headed to the back of the room where the lab stations were located, shouldering Naruto out of the way to lean against the counter. 

Pushing a pair of goggles into Sasuke's chest, Naruto strapped on his own goggles and stuck out his tongue at his partner. Sasuke half-heartedly perched his own pair on his nose and looked at Kakashi-sensei, bored.

"Girls, it's a lab rule that if you have hair longer than your chin, you have to tie it or pull it back. This goes for any boys with hair longer than chin length, too!" Kakashi-sensei stated emphatically. "This is an important rule today because we will be learning how to light, operate, and extinguish bunsen burners and hot plates. I don't want anybody's hair catching on fire!" He chuckled slightly. "Don't worry, guys, in all my years of teaching, no one has ever had their hair set on fire."

Sasuke watched Hinata and Sakura pull back their hair at the adjacent lab station. It was odd, Hinata's dark hair flowed back off her shoulders and neck as she tied it up; without her hair falling on her chest, her breasts almost seemed bigger.... showcased, even. What was with this girl?

Hinata caught Sasuke's eye and looked away quickly, turning red. She whispered in Sakura's ear; the pair turned at looked at Sasuke. He glared back.

Kakashi joined Shino at his lab station. "The bunsen burners and hot plates are stored under the counter in your lab station. In the upper left-hand drawer you will find a rubber tube and this," he held up what looked like a deformed pair of tongs. He clicked the ends together, and it sparked. "This is called a striker, you will use it to light the bunsen burner."

As their teacher explained how to hook up the bunsen burner to the gas nozzle, Sasuke watched the way Hinata's body curved with her movements. Not in a creepy way, of course, this was all for science. Totally. That small sliver of her back he could see while she was bending over was of particular interest-- oh, wait, she stood back up again.

"Hey, Sasu-chan," Naruto was suddenly dominating Sasuke's field of vision, "help me hook up this bunsen thingy, yeah?"

Sasuke sighed and faced his lab station, "It's not that hard, dumbass." Nevertheless, he attached the rubber tubing to the burner and then to the gas nozzle on the wall, if only so he didn't have to watch Naruto struggle to do it.

Kakashi showed the class how to adjust the collar on the bunsen burner and Sasuke followed suite, though he was more interested in how Hinata held her burner against her chest as she fiddled with the collar.

How did her boobs not just... swallow it? He didn't understand.

"Now turn the gas on--slowly!" Kakashi was quick to add. "Hold the striker a couple of inches above the top of the bunsen burner and click to make a spark." He turned on the gas and made a spark for demonstration. "With any luck, it'll light. I want you to try this several times. Extinguish the flame each time by simply turning the gas off." He made a wide, sweeping gesture towards the class. "Now you try it."

"You do it first," Sasuke commanded Naruto, who happily took the striker from his lab partner.

"It's not everyday the school is actually asking you to light something on fire!" Naruto laughed loudly, ignoring the sharp look from Kakashi-sensei. He clicked the striker together several times before he produced a spark, and soon lit the bunsen burner. "Hey, look, Sasu-chan, I did it!" Naruto called out.

"Good job, Uzumaki-kun," Kakashi walked over to their lab station. "Now it's your turn, Uchiha-kun."

Sasuke sighed heavily. "Do I have to?" He whined. "I've already done this in America."

"That's nice, Uchiha-kun, but you have to do it in Konoha to get credit in Konoha," Kakashi explained calmly. "Just think, if you've done it before, it'll be that much easier."

Groaning, Sasuke turned to the bunsen burner, trying to ignore Hinata's ponytail dancing in the corner of his eye. Honestly, this girl was just a problem, a distraction.

Sasuke turned off the gas, extinguishing the flame Naruto lit, then turned it back on. Expertly clicking the striker, Sasuke lit the bunsen burner in no time. "There, old man," he said, turning to Kakashi smarmily, "are you happy now?"

Kakashi laughed, tilting his head sassily, "You've thrilled me, Uchiha-kun, this memory will warm my heart in my old age." He laid a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Now do it again."

Sasuke grunted and pushed between Naruto and Sakura to get back to the bunsen burners. The hiss of the gas from the bunsen burner went silent for a moment as Sasuke extinguished it, but rushed back louder when Sasuke twisted the collar of the burner, letting out more gas. If this crazy teacher was going to make Sasuke light a bunsen burner five thousand times, he would make the biggest flame he could so Kakashi couldn't miss it.

He clicked the striker over the gas. Once, twice, three times. It sparked each time, but he didn't manage to light the flame. 

He could hear Hinata and Sakura giggling, he swore he heard his name and turned his head...

He clicked the striker...

Hinata laughed and bounced on her toes, swirling her hair over the bunsen burner...

Ignition.

Naruto's eyes widened as he cried, "Oh, shit!"

Hinata seemed frozen, as was Sasuke.

Sakura was the only person who seemed to retain any sense; she pushed Hinata's head into the sink and turned the faucet on cold.

"S-Sakura-chan!" Hinata screamed, lifting her head out of the sink, but not without hitting her head on the faucet. "W-what?"

"Your hair was on fire!" Sakura's voice was colored with panic. "I had to put it out before you got hurt!"

Hinata grew deathly pale, and threw herself onto her friend. "Oh, thank you, Sakura-chan!"

Kakashi pushed Naruto and Sasuke aside. "How did this happen?" He asked sharply. "Are you okay, Hyuuga-chan?"

She nodded, though she was flushed a strange green color. "I-I think I'm going to be sick."

"Take her to the nurse's office, Haruno-chan, and stay with her until the end of the period," Kakashi commanded, and Sakura helped Hinata wobble out of the classroom. Watching them go, he glared at Sasuke. "How did this happen?" The teacher repeated.

Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know-- I was trying to light the bunsen burner and she--," he bounced on his toes, "--and her hair got in the way. It was an accident." Though it may have been worth it, seeing how Hinata's shirt clung to her breasts when it got wet. Her hair was an unfortunate casualty.

Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose, "Why were you trying to light it when she was that close?"

"I--," Sasuke began, but realized he had no good excuse, and just shrugged.

"I see," Kakashi said cooly. "I'm sure you will be just as eloquent when explaining yourself to Headmaster Sarutobi. You will report to him immediately."

"Yes, sir," Sasuke muttered. Whatever, he'd talk to the principal, but what was he gonna do? It was an accident. They happen. 

At least he got to leave the chemistry classroom.

It smelled like burning hair.


	7. Boss Ass Bitch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the hiatus, again! My laptop had to be sent away for repairs.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this chapter!

"D-does it look okay?" Hinata whispered from behind her hands, which she held in front of her face.

Ino laughed, "Well, it's not like they can put it back on, Hinata-chan!"

"I-It looks that bad?" Hinata yelped, tearing her hands away from her face to look at the mirror in front of her.

"No!" Sakura said quickly, putting her arm around Hinata's shoulders. "It's really cute, see? And it's off your neck like you wanted!"

Hinata looked into the mirror, but all she could see was Sakura and Ino standing next to a tomato with short dark hair.

"But, we kept the long locks by your face, so you can still play with them! It frames your face and is super flattering, too," Ino added.

Hinata turned her head this way and that, examining herself in the mirror. Her hair was now so short that the stylist had to shave the back of her neck; Hinata wasn't sure how her father would react, but she was loving the cool breeze on her skin and the feeling that her head was ten pounds lighter.

Biting her lip, Hinata asked, "A-are you sure p-people won't th-think I'm dumb?"

It hadn't been her idea to cut her hair, no, thanks to Sasuke's inattention in chemistry, Hinata had to get her hair cut, as a good six inches of her dark hair had been singed.

Though it did give her an excuse to cut her hair short-- Hinata had always wanted to have short hair, but her strict father made her keep it long.

In fact, Hiashi didn't even know she was here, getting her hair cut at a real salon with Ino and Sakura. Her father was working late tonight, and so didn't expect her home directly after school... She felt like a rebel, and she liked it. Shaking her head, Hinata decided she even liked the messy look with this haircut. She looked cool, she looked edgy, she looked like-- what was it Ino had said the other day? Like a boss ass bitch.

Maybe not that last one.

In any case, Hinata liked it. But she was still worried about the opinions of her classmates, starting with--

"Naruto-kun is gonna go crazy when he see how cute you are!" Ino said decisively, taking Hinata's hands and pulling her from the stylist's chair.

"R-really? I a-alway thought he liked girls with long hair," Hinata blushed, trying not to look pointedly at Sakura and her long, luscious, mindbogglingly pink hair.

Ino frowned, "Who knows what Naruto likes. He's been thinking he's in love with Sakura for so long that even he may have forgotten!"

Sakura had the good grace to blush and glare at Ino, but said to Hinata, "She's right, as much as I hate to admit it. Maybe seeing you with a new haircut will be enough of a shock to bring him to his senses!"

Hinata didn't try to hide her incredulous frown. "At least maybe Uchiha-san will stop staring at me."

>>

"Your new haircut suits you much better than the old one," Sai said, whisking his charcoal across the paper in sweeping motions. "It seems to reveal the real you, it's almost cherubic."

"Cherubic?" Hinata repeated to herself, turning the word over in her head several times before realizing it was the adjectival form of 'cherub'. As far as she could remember, cherubs were... "You think I look like a fat angel baby?" She asked, confused.

Sai snorted. "I was thinking more, 'youthful' and 'angelic', but now that you mention it, 'fat angel baby' works, too."

Hinata looked at Sai uneasily. Every word that fell from his mouth was delivered in such a deadpan tone that she couldn't tell when he was joking. "Thanks," she said finally. Arching her back, Hinata lifted her face to the warm spring sun and sighed.

"You know," Sai began conversationally, causing Hinata to glance at him warily, "your breasts really are magnificent, it's no wonder Sasuke stares all the time. They're truly a work of art."

"Wh-what?" Hinata dropped her charcoal onto her paper and a large black blemish bloomed on her illustration of Sai. "You n-noticed that, t-too?"

"Certainly," Sai said musingly. "It's not like he's done much to hide it. Though I suppose I am more observant than your average student."

Hinata leaned towards Sai, hoping he could help her pin Sasuke down as the peeper. "Really?"

Sai rubbed his chin thoughfully. "Oh, yes. I notice lots of things other people seem to miss. For example, the day after the medical exams and when Sasuke started staring at your breasts, Sakura began wearing a push-up bra to school."

"What?"

"Ino has changed her perfume three times since the beginning of the year."

"How--?"

"Everyday after lunch, in History class, Kiba gets a boner and tried to hide it by holding his book in his lap."

Hinata held up her hands, her eyes wide, "Th-that's really not what I meant--."

"And last year, Yuuki-kun from class 2-D was going to confess to you, until Neji-senpai confronted him and told him not to. He was afraid you'd say yes because you're too nice, and you'd be stuck in a relationship with Yuuki while you were in love with Naruto." Sai said with an air of authority.

Hinata froze, "Neji-nii-san did what?" For a moment Sai was silent, and Hinata gazed out over her classmates gathered on a hill next to the school. Gai-sensei had exuberantly announced that the class was going on an outing that day, to work on portraits of their classmates, though Hinata wasn't sure that her drawing of Sai was even recognizable as someone in class 2-B.

“I'm sure Neji-senpai was just trying to protect you,” Sai said, drawing her attention again. “Though I'm equally sure you would have been fine. You're completely capable of handling yourself.”

It was nice to know that someone believed that Hinata was capable, even if that person were as strange as Sai.

Feeling awkward, Hinata turned the subject back to Sasuke. “So you've noticed Uchiha-san staring at-- staring at me,” she began hesitantly. “Have you noticed anything else since the medical exams?”

“Oh, yes,” Sai nodded. “On the day of the medical exams, I saw Naruto and Sasuke heading towards the west side of the school. It's like they weren't even trying to be sneaky; they'd make horrible ninja.”

It was true, Hinata mused, that Naruto would be a poor ninja. When he's seen Hinata before class that morning, he'd screeched so loud that Kakashi had come running in to see if anyone were hurt.

_“Ne, Hinata-chan, you look so cute!”_

She blushed and smiled, looking down the hill to where Naruto and Ino were squabbling good-naturedly over their drawings.

Wait.

“N-naruto-kun went w-with Uchiha-kun?”

“I believe it was Naruto's idea to do the peeping in the first place,” Sai replied.

That meant that-- that meant that Naruto had seen-- had seen her--!

The last thing Hinata remembered seeing was a vague look of surprise on Sai's face.


	8. You Can't Hurry Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so, so sorry for the hiatus! I went to a con in March so February was spent making cosplay, and then right after the con I got a job so I've been way busy! But I should be back to posting regularly-- Every other Sunday now.

The classroom was buzzing with excitement-- today was class 2-B's first cooking lesson with their new Home Economics teacher, Ichiraku Ayame.

Naruto was, of course, fit to burst, though Sasuke didn't see what the big deal was. It was just the Ichiraku ramen girl who made mediocre ramen with her father and, occasionally (even though she must be ancient-- like, 25 or something) flirted with Sasuke. Even now he swore she winked at him as she entered the classroom.

In front of him, Sasuke watched as Hinata sat up a little straighter when the teacher walked in. Geez, it was just the ramen girl, calm your tits. 

Speaking of tits, the novelty had worn off of Hinata's. A man can only stare at a pair of clothed breasts for so long before they start to look like two rice balls wrapped in one sheet of seaweed.

Sasuke shook his head at the thought; he'd been in Japan for too long.

But, man, Hinata's boobs had been the highlight of his day for at least two weeks, what was he gonna occupy himself with now? Sasuke cast a sidelong glance at Sakura. Nah.

He tuned out as Ayame introduced herself to the class-- “Please, call me Ayame-chan,” she requested with a giggle-- surveying all of the girls in class 2B and rating them on attractiveness.

Ino would be at the top, with her curvy body and vivacious attitude, but she was just too loud. Sakura was too pink, Sasuke sighed to himself. 

After some thought, Hyuuga Hinata was deemed tolerable, he supposed. If you could ever see her body you'd know she had a killer figure, her face was round and cute, or so at least his older brother Itachi would think, and best of all, she was _quiet_.

“Today we're going to be making rice balls with a partner, and I'll be choosing the partners,” Ayame declared with a wink. “Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto, please stand at station one,” she smiled slyly at Naruto and Sasuke rolled his eyes. Great, she was one of those romantic teachers who liked to try to play matchmaker with her students. 

If she puts me with Ino or Sakura, Sasuke thought, but was interrupted by Ayame calling out, “Hyuuga Hinata and Uchiha Saskue, please go to station four.” 

Ino heaved a dramatic sigh and Sakura pouted depsite the apologetic look Hinata gave them as she stood up.

Sasuke, for his part, was content. He didn't have to deal with any senseless, girlish babbling, and he'd bet that Hinata would do most of the work. This class was going to be easy.

As she finished calling out partner assignments, Ayame gestured to a desk at the front of the room, covered with bags of rice, spices, fish flakes, and seaweed sheets. “One partner from each pair needs to retrieve one of each of the items on this table. That will be enough for you to make four rice balls.”

Without being asked, Sasuke sauntered up to the front of the room and gathered the ingredients; it was the least he could do, since Hinata would be doing all of the actual cooking, he thought with a smirk.

Ayame began an explanation on preparing the rice, and Hinata wrote down her every word with a comically serious look on her face, her tongue poking out from the corner of her mouth.

It would almost have been cute, Sasuke mused, if she weren't taking note on making simple rice balls.

“Let's begin, shall we?” Ayame chirped after explaining the process. “Head to your kitchen stations and get started!”

Hinata marched to the kitchen station as Sasuke slouched behind and lazily set the ingredients on the counter.

She was so focused on her own thoughts that Hinata seemed to startle herself when she put down the pot with unexpected force on the burner. She gave a sheepish look over her shoulder at Sasuke, and he again almost thought she was cute, but not quite.

Sasuke stood back, watching as his partner fumbled with the stove top controls, but eventually pushed her aside to turn the knob to “high.” “You have to push the knob in, then turn it,” he said helpfully and not at all meanly as Hinata blushed.

She stood by the stove, anxiously pushing her index fingers together as she stared down at the pot. “D-does it usually take this long to boil?” she asked after what seemed to be a tense 30 seconds.

Sasuke gave her a flat look. “Yeah, it usually takes a couple minutes.” Then, narrowing his eyes, “Don't you cook?”

Hinata looked away, embarrassed, “N-no, not really.”

Sasuke groaned and threw his head back dramatically. Suspicious, he turned to look at Naruto's station, where the blond was happily chatting up Sakura as their water boiled cheerfully. Great, Sasuke thought, I would have the luck to be stuck with the one girl who can't even boil water.

“Oh!” Hinata chirped quickly, fluttering her hands over the steaming pot, which was now boiling. “What do we d-do now?”

Sasuke took a seat on the counter. “Just pour the rice in.”

Hinata gave a curt nod and did as he said, being extra careful to make sure every grain of rice went into the pot. “N-now what.”

Sasuke pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing, “You have to wait, Sunshine. You can stir it if you're going to get your panties in a bunch over waiting.” He was somewhat concerned at the sudden appearance of a pet name for Hinata, but he shook it off and glared at her.

Hinata's cheeks colored again, but she picked up a large wooden spoon and tentatively poked at the rice.

Sasuke watched Hinata stir the rice until he was confident she couldn't mess that up, and then turned his mind to... anything else.

Those cabinets were probably once white. But now they were kind of a sickly yellow. Gross.

A burning smell interrupted his thoughts, along with a loud sizzle. He turned back to Hinata to find the pot boiling over as she looked on in horror.

“Dumbass!” he cried, jumping off the counter to turn the heat down on the stove. “You have to turn the heat down or the water will boil over out of the pot!”

Hinata looked near to tears as she bowed in his direction. “I'm s-sorry, Uchiha-san! I d-didn't know!” She held her fingers to her lips and looked at the now peacefully simmering pot. “Will it be okay?”

Sasuke glared at her. “It'll be fine now,” he said gruffly, lifting himself back onto the counter. 

He watched Hinata's every move as the rice continued cooking, no longer confident in his partner's culinary competence. It was different than watching Hinata solely because she had huge boobs. When he was watching all of her, instead of just her chest, he could see she moved gracefully, if hesitantly. And her neck, now exposed by Hinata's new haircut, was becomingly slender and pale. 

Sasuke wondered briefly what a hickey would look like on such a neck, but quickly shut the thought down. This girl just learned how to boil water that day, she was clearly not dating material.

After 15 minutes of non-boob observation, Hinata turned to Sasuke. “Uchiha-san, the water is g-gone. Is the rice done?”

Sasuke leaned over to look into the pot. “Yeah, it's done.” He hopped off of the counter to stand at Hinata's shoulder. “Now we actually have to make rice balls.” 

She looked at him expectantly.

He sighed. “We grab some rice, split it in two, fill it with this bonito flake shit, stick it back together and wrap it in seaweed. Jesus, didn't you write this down?”

Hinata's mouth formed an O as she glanced at her notebook lying on the counter. Clamping her mouth shut, she stalwartly picked up a handful of rice, then stared at it.

“What now?” Sasuke asked irritably.

“W-will this be enough?” she asked bashfully, holding up the handful of rice for Sasuke's inspection.

“It's fine, Sunshine,” he bit out and handed Hinata the package of bonito flakes he had so helpfully opened.

There was silence as the pair completed their rice balls until the teacher announced, “Now that you're done with your rice balls, you can eat them!” Ayame giggled. “You all did great today, thank you for taking care of me! Since this is the last class of the day, you may leave once the final bell rings. Have a good day!”

The classroom filled with chatter, and before Sasuke could prevent it, Ino and Sakura were at his kitchen station demanding he try their rice balls.

“No,” he said firmly, pushing the proffered food away. “I'm not hungry.”

“Oh!” Sasuke heard Hinata gasp behind him and turned around.

“I-it's actually good!” she said, holding a rice ball and smiling at Sasuke. 

“It's good?” he asked in amazement, then plucked the rice ball from Hinata's hand to take a bite. “Hmm, not bad,” he said. “Fishy.” He turned to face Ino and Sakura, still chewing, “Why do Japanese people eat so much fish? I mean, I know it's an island nation, but really.”

Ino and Sakura seemed frozen in place until Ino threw a nasty look at Hinata and stormed off. Sakura looked at Hinata in bewilderment, then followed Ino.

Hinata looked distressed, pressing her lips into a thin line and pushing her index fingers together.

The bell rang.

Sasuke continued leisurely eating the rice ball; he had no clubs or obligations, so he could take his time.

Hinata went to her seat and gathered her books. She put on her headphones and turned on her music, straightening her shoulders and seemingly steeling herself for something.

She walked back up to Sasuke and stood close to him, close enough that he could recognize the song leaking out of her headphones; it was some poppy Eighties song his mom liked to sing. What was with this girl's music?

Before Sasuke could tell her to move the hell away, she spoke.

“Th-thank you for your help today, Uchiha-san.... b-but I kn-know you're the peeper.”


	9. Invincible

To be honest, Hinata was more nervous about being caught on the school roof by a teacher than she was about confronting Sasuke. 

She had never been much of a rule breaker, but this situation called for more subtlety than an accusation thrown across the school yard.

Hinata had a plan, and if everyone knew Sasuke was the peeper then she couldn't blackmail him. She felt wonderfully devious just thinking about it; maybe her inner boss ass bitch really was starting to shine through.

Probably not.

The Plan consisted of a confrontation with Sasuke, in which Hinata accused him of being the peeper and blackmailed him into paying less attention to Hinata herself and being nicer to Sakura and Ino, who were kind enough to volunteer to stand watch for any teachers or nosy students. Hopefully the Plan would go better than when Hinata tried to explain to her friends that she needed to talk to Sasuke... alone.

Ino had immediately gone on the defensive, demanding to know if Hinata was trying to confess to Sasuke. Sakura had elbowed the blonde, hissing, “Just listen to Hinata-chan!”

Hinata hid her shaking hands behind her back, “No! N-no, I'm not trying to confess to Uchiha-san. Y-you guys know I love N-naruto-kun!Uchiha-san is- is not my type.” Hinata was regretting her extreme haircut, because now she couldn't hide behind a curtain of hair.

Ino's tense posture relaxed a bit, so Hinata continued. “Uchiha-san... owes m-me a favor, a-and it could be mu-mutually beneficial.”

Sakura leaned forward, a mischievous glint in her eye, “So you're saying that you're going to make Sasuke-kun help you catch Naruto-kun? That's genius, Hinata-chan!” She squealed, taking Hinata's hands in her own, “Even though Sasuke-kun hides it, I am sure they are best friends!”

Blushing up to the tips of her ears, Hinata let out a weak giggle, “Y-yes, that's my p-plan.” Maybe it was better if Sakura and Ino didn't know that Hinata was trying to match Sasuke up with one of them. Then maybe the inevitable drama when he chooses either Sakura or Ino would be... less dramatic.

Hinata's school skirt swirled on an eddy of wind, bringing her back to the present.

Keep it cool, Hinata-chan, she told herself. You're in control. You're the boss. You're the--

“The answer is no.” Sasuke's voice cut roughly into her inner monologue.

Hinata took a quick gulp of air and turned to face her classmate. “W-what do you mean?” confusion coloring her voice.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. “Isn't this what you Japanese girls do? Get a guy alone on the roof and then confess to him? The answer,” he repeated, shifting the strap of his bag on his shoulder, “is no.”

Her mind was completely blank for almost a minute before Hinata processed what was happening. “Y-you think I'm c-confessing?”

“Yeah,” Sasuke answered, “that is clearly what is happening here.”

“N-no! I'm trying to b-blackmail you!” Hinata blurted out, her coloring gradually growing pinker and pinker.

Sasuke blinked and looked taken aback, but then smirked. “Blackmail? Well, that's much more interesting.”

Hinata took another deep breath and launched into her planned speech. “I kn-know that you and N-naruto-kun are the peepers. I-- I have an eyewitness.”

Sasuke looked dreadfully nonplussed.

“A-and I am willing to tell the headmaster if you-- if you don't m-meet my demands,” Hinata continued, with no reaction from Sasuke. “If y-you stop staring at me,” she could feel her face burning, but carried on, “and are n-nicer to my friends Sakura-chan and Ino-chan, then I will not turn you in.”

“'Nicer'?” Sasuke barked out a laugh. “Who determines what 'nicer' is? How is that even quantifiable?”

“I-I decide what 'nicer' is,” Hinata said firmly, despite stumbling on the words.

“And you're not turning Narutard in because you have a crush on him, right? Cute. Sorry, Sunshine,” Sasuke yawned, clearly not sorry at all, “but I'm not interested. Tell the headmaster, I don't care.” 

“B-but,” Hinata spluttered, “you'll be expelled if I turn you in!”

“So?” Sasuke retorted, looking altogether uninterested. “That means I can go home all the sooner.”

Hinata stared at Sasuke, completely at a loss. 

If I was so unimpressed by threats, what would scare me? She asked herself, and there was an immediate answer.

“Won't your f-father be disappointed you got expelled, and for peeping at that?” Hinata asked desperately.

Sasuke shrugged, but then a dawning look of horror appeared on his face. Suddenly Hinata felt the weight of all his anger pressing against her; she stepped back.

“Fine, I'll be nicer to your bitchy friends,” Sasuke said, already making his way to the door. “And you weren't interesting enough to keep my attention that long, anyway.”

Hinata might have been offended at his words if she wasn't so relieved that he'd agreed and the confrontation was over. She sat on a raised air vent and closed her eyes, soaking up the sun.  
“Hinata-chan!” Sakura shook her friend's shoulder. “We saw Sasuke leave, did everything go well?” she asked excitedly.

“Y-yeah, I think it did,” Hinata smiled at Sakura and Ino, who stood over her, blocking the sun.

“Good!” Ino cheered, “But seriously? Lunch is almost over-- have you eaten anything?”

“No,” Hinata admitted, “I was too nervous b-beforehand.”

“We thought you might say that,” Ino said smugly as Sakura produced two rice balls from her lunch box. “So we made you these last night.” Hinata took the rice balls gratefully, her thanks cut off when Ino continued, “But mostly I just wanted to say sorry for being a jealous, suspicious bitch. It was totally uncalled for. Do you forgive me?”

Hinata laughed and threw her arms around both of her friends, “Of course I forgive you!” With a final squeeze, she let Sakura and Ino go. Right then, standing on the roof in the warm May sunshine with her best friends, Hinata felt invincible. She stuck her pinky out. “Friends forever, yeah?”

Smiling, Sakura and Ino curled their pinky fingers around Hinata's. Sakura struck a pose, “Konoha girls, friends forever!”

“I hate to break this up,” Kakashi-sensei said from the door, “but you three really shouldn't be up here.”

Ino and Sakura dissolved into a fit of giggles while Hinata looked mortified.

“You're not in trouble,” Kakashi said with a long-suffering sigh. “Just get off the damn roof.”


	10. Private Eyes

It had been a week from hell. Though Sasuke had thawed as little of his frosty demeanor as Hinata would let him get away with, her friends had noticed in a big way.

Just that morning, Sasuke had passed Ino in the hall on the way to class. He was hoping she would ignore him, because then he could justifiably ignore her-- but of course she didn't.

“Good morning, Sasuke-kun!” Ino squealed, falling into step with Sasuke.

He grunted and quirked the corners of his mouth, looking at her dangling earrings instead of her face.

Ino beamed and stepped in front of him, bowing. “Would you please eat lunch with me? I made a lunch especially for you!”

Sasuke stopped just short of running into the girl; he would never get used to this bowing thing. “I, uh--,” he glanced over his shoulder at Hinata, who was chatting cheerfully with her cousin. “Uh, sure. I guess.” The words tasted like vomit coming out of his mouth-- the last thing he wanted to do was eat the lunch this girl had made him-- but he couldn't risk turning Ino down while Hinata was in the same hallway.

Ino's hand flew to her mouth as she gasped in amazement, “Thank you, Sasuke-kun!” Thankfully, Ino ran off, presumably to gossip with the impossibly pink Sakura. Aw, man, was he going to have to eat lunch with Sakura now, too?

It seemed like everywhere Sasuke went, he could turn around and see Hyuuga Hinata squinting at him with her absurdly large, weirdly pale eyes. It was, to put it mildly, fucking creepy. At least in class Sasuke got a break, if only because he sat behind her. 

All through class, Sasuke's head was spinning, trying to come up with a solution to his problem-- the problem of eating lunch alone with Ino. It wasn't until he saw Naruto chatting up Sakura as the lunch bell rang that he got an idea.

“Hey, dumbass,” Sasuke said, knocking Naruto on the back of the head as Sakura tried to suppress a giggle. “Do you and Sakura want to eat with me and Ino today?”

“Yes!” Sakura exclaimed as soon as the question had left Sasuke's mouth. “Yes, Naruto-kun and I would love to eat lunch with you and Ino-chan, Sasuke-kun!” She grabbed on to Naruto's arm, clutching it to her chest; Naruto's expression was one of lovestruck glee.

Naruto laughed, scratching at the back of his head, “Thanks, Sasu-chan, that'd be great.”

“Awesome,” Sasuke drawled. “Meet us under the big tree in the courtyard.” He turned to leave, but looked back over his shoulder at the pair. “Oh, and if you see anyone else cool, feel free to invite them.”

“Thanks, man, I will,” Naruto smiled brightly at his housemate. Sasuke could hear Naruto as he walked away, “What's gotten into him?”

“I don't know,” Sakura replied, “but I like it.”

>>>

Sasuke could see Naruto had made good on his word to invite “anyone cool” as most of class 2-B and even some third years gathered under the largest tree in the courtyard.

“Nice work, dumbass,” Sasuke slapped the blond on the back as he passed, making his was to Ino, who looked to be on the verge of tears. Fuck.

“Hey, Ino,” Sasuke greeted casually, leaning against the trunk of the tree and setting his school bag on the ground. “Is something wrong?”

Ino sniffed, blinking her large blue eyes up at Sasuke, “I-I was hoping that the two of us could eat lunch together,” she paused to wipe her eyes, “alone.”

Sasuke feigned shock, “Oh, Ino, I'm sorry! I didn't know.” He turned to point at Naruto. “I invited Sakura and Naruto to eat with us, but that dumbass must have invited everyone else.” It wasn't technically a lie, so Sasuke's conscience was unblemished.

Glaring at Naruto, Ino said, “Maybe we could sneak off?”

Sasuke shook his head, “I don't think so, look how excited everyone is to eat together. I mean, look, some of our sempais came.” The Japanese term felt strange in his mouth, but Sasuke figured it would make him sound more sincere.

“And here I was thinking you didn't care about us, Uchiha,” a deep voice sounded from behind Sasuke. He turned to find Hyuuga Neji smiling leisurely, backed up by two of his fellow third-years, a girl with two buns on the top of her head and a black haired boy with a tragic bowl cut. Neji examined the ends of his hair, saying, “Maybe Hinata was wrong about you, and you aren't a self-centered bastard. My words, not hers.” Neji punctuated the statement with a charming smile.

Sasuke looked suspiciously at Neji; did Hinata tell her cousin about their... arrangement? “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Neji-sempai,” Sasuke said, smiling smugly at Neji's look of distaste. He looked between Ino and the Hyuuga. “Don't you think we should all eat together today, Neji? It would be a shame to break up all this camaraderie.”

“Indeed it would, Uchiha,” Neji agreed, much to Sasuke's surprise. Neji looked past Sasuke to Ino and gave her a winning smile. “Perhaps your luncheon could be made up at a later date.”

Ino beamed.

That bastard.

>>>

After what was, surprisingly, a fairly enjoyable lunch, Sasuke caught up with Hinata in the hall outside the classroom.

“Real classy, Hyuuga,” Sasuke spat, leveling her with a hateful glare. 

“W-what did I d-do?” Hinata stuttered, taking a step back from the Uchiha before blushing. “B-besides, I mean, besides--.”

“Besides blackmailing me?” Sasuke offered helpfully. “You sicced your cousin on me to force me to eat lunch with Ino!”

Hinata glanced up at Sasuke, confused, “W-what are you talking about? Neji-nii-san doesn't know.”

“Yeah? Well tell that to Nii-san,” Sasuke snorted derisively. “And you told him I'm a selfish bastard!” He didn't like the thought of Hinata saying unkind things about him; Hinata was way too nice, if she was saying mean things about you, then you probably deserved it. Sasuke didn't think he deserved it.

“Th-those are Nii-san's words, not m-mine!” Hinata held her hands up defensively, a barrier between herself and Sasuke. She looked at him sternly, “M-maybe the next t-time you make a commitment to s-somebody, you sh-should just... honor it, instead of w-weaseling away from it. Then you won't f-feel threatened when s-somebody challenges you.”

“Alright, look, Sunshine,” Sasuke knocked Hinata's hands away and stepped into her personal space, “I don't need advice about honor from some stuck-up little bitch.” The look on Hinata's face almost made him feel guilty for calling her a bitch. “I am trying my best to be nicer to your little friends, but it can be really, really trying when they're as obnoxious as hell. So pardon me for looking for an easier way out.” Sasuke leaned to put his face close to hers, gesturing at her eyes with his hands, “And maybe it would be easier for me to be nice if you weren't peering at me with those freaky eyes all the time.”

“Well, doesn't this look cozy?”

Sasuke snapped his head up to see Kakashi-sensei standing besides Hinata. 

“Uchiha-kun came all the way from Japan to find a girlfriend,” Kakashi laughed, “and he picked a good one. Good for you, Uchiha-kun. But you two should get to class, you're going to be late.” 

The bell rang.

“Correction, you are late, and so am I. Get into class before Iruka-sensei finds all three of us,” Kakashi warned.

The door to class 2-B slid open, and an irate Iruka glared at the trio. “You two,” he pointed at Sasuke and Hinata, “ _could_ have been on time if you had decided to chat _inside_ the classroom!” Iruka turned to face Kakashi, “And _you_ are a teacher, go and teach! Why are you just standing out here?”

“You're absolutely right, Iruka, so I'll just be on my way,” Kakashi said cheerfully, even having the nerve to whistle as he walked off.

Iruka sighed heavily, then said, “Just get in the classroom. I don't feel like making anybody hold water buckets today.”

When Sasuke stepped back from Hinata, he could see her body shaking minutely; she looked so tense that if he were to touch her, Sasuke thought, Hinata would fly apart.

He took his seat in the classroom and only halfway paid attention to the History lesson. Hinata's shoulders remained tight throughout the class. Was she seriously still upset? No one had ever reacted this intensely to Sasuke's in-your-face confrontations before. 

Maybe he did deserve it, a little bit.


	11. Rolling in the Deep

“G-get out of my closet, Hanabi-chan,” Hinata said as she ushered her older cousin into her bedroom and shut the door. “If you wanted to listen, you c-could have just asked.”

Hanabi emerged from her sister's closet, looking as casual as anything. “But, Ane-chan, you would have said no!”

Neji gave Hanabi a look. “You know she would have then let you listen anyway.”

“Ha, yeah,” the youngest Hyuuga laughed, perching on Hinata's bed. “So, Hinata-chan, spill it.”

Hinata sighed heavily, shaking her head, and settled on her desk chair. “Neji-nii-san, Uchiha-san t-told me you spoke with him today.”

“I did,” Neji said curtly.

“And he said that you f-forced him to eat lunch with Ino-chan?”

“I merely suggested an alternative to canceling their luncheon, which Ino found agreeable.”

Hinata nodded, then said, “Uchiha-san also said that you t-told him I said he was a s-selfish bastard.”

Neji looked away, almost sheepish, “I did tell him those were my words.”

“Neji-nii-san,” Hinata sighed again, “you have obviously f-figured out my... arrangement with Uchiha-san.” Neji looked at her, but said nothing; Hinata met his gaze evenly.

“Arrangement? That sounds juicy,” Hanabi said eagerly. “Do tell!”

Ignoring her sister, Hinata addressed Neji, “I would prefer if y-you left it to me, Neji-nii-san. Uchiha-kun called me a b-bitch,” her voice caught on the word, “for 'siccing' you on him.”

Neji and Hanabi froze.

“He did what?” Neji asked, voice dangerous. “He called you a _what_?”

“I'll kill him!” Hanabi cried, jumping up on her older sister's bed. “The only one allowed to call Hinata-chan a bitch is me, and I would never do that to my Ane-chan!”

Hinata felt like she was doing a lot of sighing that night as she sighed once again. “Hush, Imouto-chan. K-killing him would be a bit much. He only called me-- called me that-- because he felt p-powerless.”

Neji looked thoughtful. “She has a point, though. Revenge would be an excellent way to exercise your control over him.”

“You're controlling Uchiha?” Hanabi asked excitedly.

“I'm... blackmailing him. S-so, yes,” Hinata admitted quietly.

“Woah, blackmail?” Hanabi's eyes were shining. “Ane-chan is a boss ass bitch!”

“I thought you could never call Hinata a bitch,” Neji teased, lounging against the wall.

Hanabi stuck out her tongue, “Well, not like _that_ , but _this_ is different!”

Hinata smiled wryly at her sister, “Thanks, Imouto-chan, but I don't feel like the boss most of the time.”

“Well, Neji's right, then!” Hanabi leaned into her sister's space. “Get some revenge and show him who's in charge!”

“I-I don't know,” Hinata said, backing up into her desk. “Being called a b-bitch doesn't seem like a good enough reason t-to get revenge....”

Neji looked at Hinata cooly. “Blackmail isn't about _reason_ , Hinata-sama, it's about _control_. The Uchiha was testing the limits today, now is the time to strike back and reinforce your control. If you wait too long, your revenge won't have the desired effect of keeping him in line. After all,” he smirked, “goldfish only have a memory of 3 seconds.”

“But what c-could I even do to him?” Hinata asked, stifling a giggle.

Hanabi looked thoughtful, “What is it that this Uchiha bastard hates the most?”

“Being friendly?” Hinata said quite seriously and Neji snorted.

“That's true,” he laughed, “all you have to do is make him be friendly to people he hates.”

Hinata frowned, “But I'm a-already doing that with the blackmail.”

“But only at school,” Neji chimed in. “Put him in a situation where he has to play nice _all day_.”

“A-all day?” Hinata asked wonderingly; then, with an almost devious smile blossoming on her face, “All day!” 

Satisfied that her older sister would actually exact some sort of revenge on Sasuke, Hanabi asked, “What are you even blackmailing him for, Ane-chan?” 

Hinata sighed, and, after a moment, said, “He was the p-peeper.”

Neji bristled, looking like killing Sasuke wasn't such a bad idea anymore.

Hanabi gasped. “Drag him, Hinata-chan!”

>>

“Man, 'Nata-chan, we haven't had lunch together in forever!” Kiba howled as he settled with Hinata and Shino under a tree in the school courtyard. 

“I'm sorry, Kiba-kun,” Hinata said, arranging her skirt around her. “I f-feel like I've neglected you and Shino-kun.” She looked at them apologetically, but in truth, Hinata had been avoiding lunch with them ever since Sai had told her about Kiba's lunchtime boners. She really did not want to see that, but today she was going to take the risk.

“It's okay, Hinata-chan,” Shino said. “It's not like we never see you.”

“Just almost never,” Kiba whined. “At least you still text me.”

“If you call sending Hinata and me pictures of dogs with inane captions, 'texting',” Shino said flatly.

Hinata giggled-- it was just like old times. She was glad to know that Kiba and Shino would always accept her friendship.

“I find the dog p-pictures charming,” Hinata offered, and Kiba rewarded her with a wide, toothy smile. “Kiba-kun, would you like to g-go to the amusement park this weekend? I'm going with Sakura-chan, Ino-chan, Naruto-kun and Uchiha-san, I was hoping you c-could come, too.”

“Sure, 'Nata-chan, that sounds like fun, but aren't you going to ask Shino, too?” Kiba looked confused, tilting his head to one side. 

Hinata looked from Shino to Kiba, blushing. “T-truthfully, I'm inviting the people Uchiha-san hates the most. Uchiha-san said h-hurtful things to me, and I'm trying to get revenge by surrounding him with the people he finds most annoying, n-no offense.”

Shino's sunglasses slid down his nose as he looked at her with wide eyes.

Kiba barked with laughter, “That's great! I will gladly annoy Uchiha for you, 'Nata-chan, he's such a prick!”

“It seems being friends with Sakura-chan and Ino-chan is helping to improve your confidence,” Shino observed. “I'm really proud of you.”

Hinata ducked her head bashfully, “I knew I could count on you guys.”


	12. Vacation

Sasuke really should have said 'no'. But when Hinata had asked if he and Naruto wanted to come to the amusement park that weekend, there was a challenge in her moon eyes that he couldn't resist meeting, and so he had said yes, loudly and defiantly. If this Hyuuga girl thought she could intimidate Sasuke by bringing her friends, she would be unpleasantly surprised. Uchihas aren't intimated by anyone!

Naruto had looked at him curiously but smiled and agreed with Sasuke, “Yeah, Hinata-chan, that'd be great! We can all take the train together out of Konoha!”

Now they were all taking the train together out of Konoha and Sasuke was really beginning to regret his choice.

Between Ino, Naruto, Sakura and Kiba there hadn't been a moment of silence since the group stepped into the train car, and it was ungodly early for a Saturday. Why couldn't they just shut up? Didn't they need to breathe? Hinata sat in the seat across from Sasuke, smiling inanely and tittering every now and then at someone's dim-witted joke. It was unbearable.

Groaning, Sasuke stretched his arms up over his head, causing his shirt to ride up over his stomach. A girlish laugh from Sakura reminded Sasuke of his company and he immediately slouched forward and crossed his arms in front of his abdomen. When he looked to Sakura and Ino to check if they were staring at him, Sasuke found that Naruto had just made an asinine joke and the blonde and pink haired girls were distracted momentarily. As he let out a sigh of relief, his eyes landed on Hinata, who was squinting at him with her head tilted to one side, as if considering a difficult decision.

“What,” Sasuke said, and it wasn't even a question, more like a word thrown in challenge.

Hinata pressed her lips into a line and gave a slight shrug, turning her attention back to Kiba as he leaned over to show her something on his cell phone.

Fortunately for Sasuke, the train soon slid into the station and the group disembarked-- loudly-- to begin making their way to the amusement park.

He slouched along behind the pack, thankful that Naruto's and Kiba's combined exuberance was enough to keep the girls' attention off of him-- at least for now. His attention kept wandering back to Hinata, who was bouncing on her toes as she walked. It reminded Sasuke of the day he set her hair on fire, and his frown deepened. Sasuke knew that she had done this on purpose-- brought him to an amusement park with all of his least favorite people-- and she had the nerve to actually be excited about it? 

Whatever. 

“Hey, 'Nata-chan, you've never been to an amusement park before, right?” Kiba asked, sidling up to his friend. “'Cause your dad's a control freak.”

Hinata's cheeks bloomed with color. “Th-that's right,” she said softly. “But I managed to convince him I was responsible enough to go.” Hinata giggled, “A-and I told him Shino-kun would be here.”

“Aw, man, he always did like Shino more than me,” Kiba laughed.

Sasuke scowled, muttering, “Everyone likes Shino more than you.”

Hinata threw Sasuke a sharp look, but Naruto chuckled and slapped his housemate on the shoulder. “And everyone likes Kiba more than you, Sasu-chan! Lighten up a little!” Sasuke shook Naruto's hand off as he continued, “But you've never been to an amusement park before, Hinata-chan? Man, I'm gonna make sure you have the best time!”

Hinata blushed and turned to whisper something to Sakura and Ino; The threesome giggled.

This day couldn't get any worse, and it had barely even started.

“So, Hinata-chan, what's the first thing you want to do? You should pick, since you've never been to an amusement park before,” Sakura reasoned as their party gathered inside the park gates.

“Yeah, Hinata-chan, you pick!” Naruto agreed, jostling Hinata with his shoulder.

Hinata stumbled into Ino, smiling at the ground. “W-well, I've always wanted...” her sentence ended in a quiet jumble of words, too soft to hear.

“Eh?” asked Kiba intelligently.

“I think she said she wants to ride the Yellow Flash,” Ino said, her arm around Hinata's shoulders. “Doesn't that one have, like, seven loops?”

Kiba nodded excitedly, “And it's the fastest and tallest coaster in Japan!” He looked at Hinata. “Good choice, 'Nata-chan!”

Sakura looked mildly horrified. “Should we really start there?” she asked, concerned. “Maybe we should work our way up to it.”

“I think Sakura's right, Hinata-chan,” Naruto said, and the rest of the group looked at him in surprise. “It'd be better to find out you hate roller coasters on a little one than a huge one!”

Hinata chewed on her lower lip, frowning. “I-if you say so.”

The first ride the group agreed on was a small coaster called the Fire Country Inferno.

“It's a b-big name for such a little ride,” Hinata commented, and her friends murmured in agreement. Nonetheless, when they got off the roller coaster, Hinata was beaming. 

“Th-that was so much fun!” she said breathlessly. “Let's go on another!”

That was when Sasuke found out that Hinata was a thrill junkie. As the rides the friends went on grew increasingly larger, so did Hinata's smile.

After the Tilt-a-Whirl, which Sakura and Ino refused to ride, Hinata could barely contain herself. “Can we ride the Yellow Flash now?” She bounced on her toes, her eyes wide with excitement.

“No!” Kiba groaned, clinging to the side of a trash can.

Naruto laughed nervously, “Hinata-chan, don't you want to save the best for last?”

Hinata opened her mouth to speak, but Sakura cut her off. “Hinata-chan, we've ridden most of the coasters and thrill rides in the two and a half hours we've been here. Maybe we should take a break, get some lunch?”

“No lunch,” Kiba moaned as he sank to the ground.

“Why don't we go to the Midway?” Ino interjected before Hinata could protest. “Play some games, let our stomachs settle....” Ino trailed off as she eyed Kiba worriedly. 

“O-okay,” Hinata agreed, seeming to have just noticed Kiba curled in a ball on the ground. 

The Midway was filled with carnival games and tacky prizes, and if Sasuke tuned out everyone speaking Japanese around him, he'd almost feel like he was at an amusement park back home. It would have been comforting if Sasuke's competitive nature hadn't taken over.

“This booth always has the best prizes!” Naruto declared, leading the party over to a duck hunt shooting game. Sasuke raised an eyebrow; the prizes at this booth were the same as all the other booths-- the selection here was various sizes of stuffed frogs, sheep, and alpaca. 

The duck hunt game featured duck shaped targets moving on three tracks. The slowest track, which was closest to the shooters, had ducks worth one point. The middle track had 10 point ducks, and the farthest and fastest track had 50 point ducks. The object was to knock down as many ducks as possible to get as many points as possible in the one minute time period.

“Let's have a tournament!” Ino suggested excitedly. “Whoever gets the least points in each round is out, until we have a grand champion!”

“That's a great idea, Ino-chan!” Naruto shouted. “Prepare to weep, Sasu-chan, I'm going to beat you at this game!”

For all his talk, Naruto was the first one eliminated. 

“Heh, guess I lost my focus,” he laughed, scratching the back of his head.

Kiba was the next to be eliminated, followed by Ino and then Sakura. Soon it was the final shoot out between Sasuke and Hinata.

Sasuke was mildly impressed with Hinata's shooting skills. She would wait patiently for the randomly-spaced 50 point ducks to appear, and then shoot them down with terrifying accuracy. 

Sasuke decided his strategy was to shoot down as many 10 and one point ducks as he could, and leave the unreliable 50 point ducks to Hinata.

“Ready?” Ino began the countdown. “Go!”

Sasuke gritted his teeth and began shooting the ducks quickly and methodically. When he had shot 20 points, he saw Hinata take aim and shoot down a 50 point duck from the corner of his eye. He frowned and decided to shift his focus to the 10 point ducks. 

When there were 15 seconds left, Sasuke had 67 points, and there was no 50 point duck in sight. Still Hinata waited patiently, her toy gun pointed where the ducks would appear.

10 seconds left and Sasuke had 79 points. It seemed that there were no more 50 point ducks, but still Hinata stood ready.

5 seconds left and Sasuke felt comfortable in his victory, but at 3 seconds a 50 point duck sped into the open.

Hinata squeezed her trigger as the buzzer sounded.

“Wow, Hinata-chan!” Ino and Sakura cheered. “How'd you learn to shoot like that?”

Hinata flushed and shrugged, “Hyuugas j-just have really good vision.”

“Great job, 'Nata-chan!” Kiba tackled Hinata in a hug. “I knew you could take down that Uchiha prick!”

“But she didn't,” Sasuke said, only a little smugly, pointing at the duck tracks. 

Instead of shooting the 50 point duck down, Hinata had shot his beak clean off. 

“He's right, Hinata-chan,” Naruto said, sounding dejected. “It only counts if you knock the duck over.”


	13. Best Day of My Life

“What prize are you going to pick, Uchiha?” Kiba teased. “A frog, a sheep? Ooh, maybe an alpaca?”

Sakura and Ino giggled at the thought of Sasuke carrying a big stuffed sheep for the rest of the day, and Hinata joined in, trying to ignore the itch of disappointment that came from just barely losing a shooting competition against the exhange student. She wasn't too proud to admit that it would have been really satisfying to wipe that smug look off Sasuke's face.

“I think the frog is cute, Sasu-chan,” Naruto offered, and Hinata could see Sasuke mentally disqualify the frog from his selection.

After a long moment, Sasuke turned to Hinata. “You can choose, Hyuuga. I don't want any of these prizes, and you're a really good shot.” There was a pause before he added with a self-satisfied smirk, “Not as good of a shot as me, though.”

Hinata was speechless-- did he just complement her?-- and stared at Sasuke for a minute while Sakura and Ino alternated between cooing about how lucky Hinata-chan was and lamenting over how jealous they were. Shaking her head, Hinata collected herself and turned to the booth attendant, saying, “A f-frog, please.”

“A frog?” Kiba laughed as Hinata's cheeks turned pink.

Ino looked skeptical, “The sheep is much cuter.”

“I th-think the frog is charming,” Hinata said, casting a shy glance at Naruto as she received her new plush.

She was rewarded with a beaming smile and a thumbs up from the blonde. “I think so, too, Hinata-chan!”

Sasuke snorted, “You have no taste.” Unsure if he was talking about Naruto or herself, Hinata frowned at her classmate. Sasuke ignored her. “Where's the food court to this place? I'd kill for a good burger.”

After lunch, the friends were at a loss for what to do next.

“There is no way I'm riding the Yellow Flash after eating lunch,” Kiba said decisively, planting his feet on the sidewalk as Hinata tried to lead him towards the roller coaster. “It tasted good going down, and I don't want to know how it'll taste coming back up.”

“Hinata-chan, Sakura-chan, come here!” Ino hissed at the girls from a large mural of the park map. As soon as the three girls were together, Ino pointed emphatically at the map. “There's a Tunnel of Love ride!”

“A-a Tunnel of Love ride?” Hinata tilted her head to one side.

“Guys and girls get paired off in little boats,” Sakura explained, “and they cruise through a tunnel filled with romantic scenes. It's kept dark so the couples can do this and that!” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

Hinata's ears turned pink, “O-oh my.”

“This is a perfect opportunity for Hinata-chan to get some alone time with Naruto!” Ino hugged Hinata enthusiastically. 

“Yeah, but who's going to get to ride with Sasuke?” Sakura asked, looking pointedly at her blonde friend.

Ino pointed at the map again. “We'll leave that up to fate! There are separate entrances for boys and girls, so you don't really know who you're going to be paired up with.” Before Hinata or Sakura could protest, she added, “And I am 100% sure that Naruto will demand to go first.”

“Disappointed?” Sasuke asked as he climbed into the garishly pink swan boat next to Hinata.

“A-a little,” she said, feeling that it would be unfair to lie to Sasuke. 

Sasuke blinked, seeming to be taken aback by Hinata's honesty. “He claimed that he was 100% certain that Sakura would want to go last.” 

The boat gently disembarked and began floating down a dim corridor, the only illumination coming from lights shaped like flickering candles.

“Oh,” Hinata said, examining the décor. 

Sasuke shrugged, uninterested in the drama of Hinata's love life. At the sudden appearance of a cherubic Cupid, he sneered. “This is awful.”

They were floating in front of the first romantic scene in the tunnel, where a man was devotedly offering flowers to a woman, except the mannequin's face looked pained.

“It is rather tacky,” Hinata agreed. She pointed to the male mannequin, “He looks c-constipated.” 

To her surprise, Sasuke laughed at her comment. “And the woman looks like somebody just shoved a stick up her ass!”

It was true; the female mannequin's expression was a mixture of shock and pain. Hinata giggled.

The next scene showed a woman huddled next to a man as he held his suit jacket up to shield them from rain.

“Is she smelling his armpit?” Sasuke asked, voice serious.

“He's got a really creepy look on his face,” Hinata said, squirming in the seat. “Like he's enjoying being smelled.”

On one knee, the male mannequin was proposing to the female mannequin in the third scenario. 

“Oh my god!” Hinata shrieked, pointing at the male mannequin. “He wet himself!” There was a mysteriously large, dark stain on the front of his pants.

“Reject him,” Sasuke told the female mannequin, “you can do better than a man who wets himself at the thought of proposing.”

Hinata nodded, “You d-deserve better!”

Sasuke laughed again, and this time Hinata laughed, too.

The final scene was a grand wedding.

“I g-guess she said yes,” Hinata said thoughtfully.

“He didn't piss himself this time, at least,” Sasuke pointed out.

Hinata tapped her chin, deep in thought, “Maybe he spilled coffee on himself before he proposed.” 

The look on Sasuke's face was so incredulous that Hinata laughed out loud, tears coming to her eyes as Sasuke laughed with her.

As the boat docked back at the station, Hinata wondered aloud, “I wonder who ended up riding with Naruto-kun?”

“Eh? Naruto-kun?” Ino's voice cut shrilly through the thin walls of the ride. 

“Ino-chan?” Naruto was just as surprised. “You're supposed to be Sakura-chan!”

“Well, you were supposed to go on the first boat!”

Sasuke offered his hand to help Hinata out of the swan boat as the two continued to bicker loudly. “I'm guessing he ended up with Ino,” he cracked a smile as he and Hinata exited the ride.

They stood in companionable silence outside of the ride as they waited for their friends; the silence was broken as Sakura and Kiba joined them.

“Geez, I said I was sorry, Sakura-chan!” Kiba whined, rubbing the back of his head.

Sakura whirled around, pointing a finger in his direction. “Don't you 'Sakura-chan' me! Just because we were paired up in the Tunnel of Love does not mean I am interested in you!”

Kiba huffed, “All I did was put my arm around you! It seemed appropriate, given the situation.”

“Perhaps you should have asked Sakura-chan first,” Hinata suggested quietly.

“Eh, I guess, Hinata-chan,” Kiba frowned. “I'm sorry, Sakura-chan.”

Sakura sniffed imperiously. “It's okay, Kiba-kun.”

“Well, that _could_ have been romantic,” Ino appeared at Sasuke's shoulder, “if I hadn't been paired with this idiot.” She gestured at Naruto with her thumb.

“I agree,” Sakura said flatly.

“It's not my fault the guy wet his pants!” Naruto said defensively.

Hinata giggled, “Y-you saw that, too, Naruto-kun?” She glanced over her shoulder at Sasuke. “We had a g-good time.”

“Of course you did, Hinata-chan! You got paired with Sasuke-kun! I think anyone would have a good ride through the Tunnel of Love with Sasuke-kun,” Ino sighed dreamily.

“Sure,” Hinata said, biting back an awkward giggle. She felt very lucky that her ride through the Tunnel of Love with Sasuke had gone as well as it did.

“Are we going to ride that roller coaster, or what?” Sasuke asked impatiently, clearly tired of the Tunnel of Love.

“Yes!” Hinata replied immediately. “Let's go!” She began power walking in the direction of the Yellow Flash before her friends could protest, and Sasuke sauntered beside her. “D-do you like roller coasters, Uchiha-san?”

He shrugged. “They're okay. I don't _dislike_ them.”

Hinata chewed on her lip. “I really l-like them,” she whispered. “I'm so glad I got a chance to ride them today.”

Hinata expected the conversation to stop there, but Sasuke asked, “What do you like about them? Every time you get off a roller coaster, you're grinning ear to ear.”

“I-I don't know,” Hinata said, blushing. “I like th-that it feels like flying. I like the wind on my face.” She ducked her head and looked at the ground. “I like that I c-can let go and enjoy it without worrying over w-what happens next.”

“Hn,” Sasuke grunted, and it sounded like an agreement. Hinata smiled at the ground.

Sasuke was right, Hinata discovered, looking at the picture on the screen of she and her friends on the roller coaster. She was beaming.

In the seat to the left of her, Kiba looked vaguely green, and on the far side of Kiba, Ino's face was frozen in a look of pure terror. To Hinata's right, Naruto had his mouth wide open, his cheeks puffed out by the wind, and next to him was Sakura, who was clinging to Sasuke's hand. Sasuke looked bored, but if you really looked at the picture, you could see his eyes were wide and his mouth was tight. Hinata giggled-- he was scared!

“I-I'm going to buy this,” she declared to her friends, and clutched the picture to her chest when the photo clerk handed it to her.

Hinata smiled the rest of the day, and on the train home she kept looking at the picture. She had so much fun, she wished it could last forever. Sneaking another peak at the picture Hinata thought: My best friends.  
It was a minute before the thought sunk in, and when she realized what she said, it surprised her at first. She had arranged this trip to torture Sasuke, but when she looked at her friends in the rail car it was easy to see that everyone was comfortable with each other. Sasuke even looked kind of happy-- or at least, less broody than usual.

So, yes, Hinata thought to herself, these were her best friends. Except for Shino! She was quick to add with a laugh.

Hinata glanced up from her picture and caught Sasuke's eye.

“What do you want, Sunshine?” he grumbled tiredly.

Hinata looked Sasuke in the eye and smiled. “Thanks for coming.”


	14. Our House

It was blessedly quiet in the Umino house, which was unusual, if not slightly suspicious. Sasuke rolled over onto his back and stared at the ceiling, sighing. After all the noise at the amusement park yesterday, the silence was refreshing. He closed his eyes and snuggled deeper into his bed. There were no girls, no dog-breathed Kiba, no--

“Hey, Sasu-chan,” Naruto's voice sounded in Sasuke's ear; he could feel the heat of the idiot's breath on his cheek. Damn! Sasuke hadn't even heard Naruto approach-- he shouldn't have let his guard down.

“Hey, hey, Sasu-chan,” Naruto repeated, this time poking Sasuke's arm repeatedly.

Sasuke cracked an eye open to glare at Naruto, growling, “What?”

The blond's face filled Sasuke's field of vision. “Hey, Iruka-san wants to talk to you.”

Sasuke put his back to Naruto, “Later.”

“Ah, I get it,” Naruto's smile was evident in his voice, “somebody's grumpy because he can't see his girlfriend today.”

Sasuke slowly turned over, radiating barely suppressed anger. “Excuse me?”

Naruto's eyes widened at the other boy's deadly look, but he continued, “You and Hinata seemed pretty chummy after the Tunnel of Love yesterday-- is that when you confessed? Honestly, I'm glad you've got a girlfriend, now Sakura has no reason to reject me again--!”

“You think Hyuuga is my girlfriend?” Sasuke interrupted, feeling both angry and amused, but mostly stupefied as to how Naruto could have come to such a conclusion.

“Well, I mean, you seemed so excited to go to the amusement park, and then you were pretty nice the whole time-- you know, for you,” Naruto explained. “Plus you gave Hinata that prize and didn't jump overboard during the Tunnel of Love.” The blond chuckled.

Sasuke sat up with a scowl, trying to sort out his conflicted emotions. On one hand, beyond the whole blackmail thing, Hinata was mostly tolerable, even if she couldn't cook. She was kinda pretty, too, but she had a really bizarre taste in music. Sasuke felt a little, inexplicably, disappointed as he remembered her crush on Naruto. The idiot was still unaware, despite Hinata's best efforts the day before, and now he thought she was dating Sasuke!

The Uchiha eyed Naruto; as much as he would like to say he was dating Hinata-- if only for protection from Sakura and Ino!-- he couldn't, in good conscience, claim to be her boyfriend while she was in love with Naruto. Could he?

“Sasu-chan, you okay? You really zoned out there for a second,” Naruto laughed awkwardly, waving a hand in Sasuke's face.

Abruptly standing up from the bed, Sasuke pushed Naruto aside.

“H-hey, where are you going?” Naruto asked.

Sasuke looked at the other boy out of the corner of his eye. “To see Iruka.” His tone of voice left little doubt as to what Sasuke thought of Naruto's intelligence.

Iruka sat at the low dining table with a blanket tucked up around his legs; he laid down his newspaper as Sasuke entered the room.

“Sasuke-kun, please sit down,” Iruka gestured at a cushion on the opposite side of the table from which he sat.

As the boy sat down, Sasuke was struck by the familiarity of it all-- it was just like when his father wanted to lecture or punish him.

Sasuke mentally sorted through all of the events since the beginning of school that could possibly get him in trouble-- oh, shit. Had Hyuuga made good on her blackmail and turned him in? But yesterday seemed to go so well, hell, he was even kinda starting to like the girl! Was Sasuke to be sent home, to the shame of the Uchiha family? This never would have happened if it weren't for that dumbass, Naruto--.

“Sasuke-kun, are you listening to me?” Iruka's voice broke into Sasuke's thoughts.

“Excuse me, sir,” the polite words tumbled awkwardly from the teen's lips, and he was embarrassed to admit to himself that he even thought about bowing.

Tch. As if.

Iruka gave a heavy sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose, an idiosyncratic combination he usually reserved for Naruto. “I was saying that your Japanese teacher, Kurenai-san, spoke with me on Friday.”

Sasuke's shoulders slumped with relief; Kurenai wasn't part of the peeping investigation team.

“Kurenai-san was concerned,” Iruka continued. “She says your Japanese is not improving as it should be in an immersive environment.” He fixed the teenager with a sharp look. “Kurenai-san says it's almost as if you don't want to improve.” Sasuke couldn't help his defiant smirk, which Iruka graciously ignored. “I know this is not the case, as an Uchiha always pursues perfection,” Sasuke found himself at the wrong end of another pointed look, “so I have arranged for one of Kurenai-san's top English students to help tutor you. Your lessons will be after school, during club time. Kakashi-san has offered classroom 2-B for your lessons.” Iruka steepled his fingers in front of his face and fixed his gaze on Sasuke. “I fully expect you to attend these lessons, Sasuke-kun. If you do not, I will be forced to notify your father of your unsatisfactory grades.”

All of Sasuke's half-formed notions of skipping the tutoring sessions flew out of the window.

“Eh? What's wrong, Sasu-chan?” Naruto bumped noisily into the room. “You look like you've seen a ghost!”

“Good timing, Naruto-kun,” Iruka said as he stood up from the table. “I was just about to start dinner, and Sasuke-kun was kind enough to volunteer the both of you to help me. Isn't that right, Sasuke-kun?” he asked blithely.

Sasuke answered through gritted teeth, “Yes, sir.” As much as he hated to admit it, Sasuke knew when he'd been beaten.

“Aw, man, Iruka-san!” Naruto wailed. “I was just about to upload my new video to YouTube!”

“YouTube will still be there when you get done,” Iruka said sagely. “Though what the appeal of watching you and that Inuzuka boy eat hamburgers until you throw up is, I'll never guess.”

“That was one video!” Naruto huffed defensively. “And it has over 2000 views!”

If Naruto could distract Iruka just a little bit longer, Sasuke could sneak away. He edged slightly closer to the door--.

“Don't you even try that with me, young man!” Iruka's voice cut through the living room.

Damn.

Luckily, Iruka had planned a hot pot dinner, so all Sasuke and Naruto had to do was chop vegetables while Iruka prepared the meat.

“Shit, that's like a mountain of cabbage!” Naruto's eyes widened at the sight of the vegetables. “How much hot pot are we making?”

Iruka sliced beef calmly as he replied, “Enough to eat tonight, and enough for you boys to take for lunch tomorrow.” He slid the meat into the cast iron pot to sear. “Swimming lessons start tomorrow with Gai-san, so I want you to have something hearty to eat.”

“Swimming lessons?” Sasuke intoned incredulously. “Seriously?”

“Yeah, did you think the school swimming pool was just for show?” Naruto laughed, elbowing his friend in the side. “Plus it's a great chance to check out all the girls in their swimsuits,” he smiled smarmily.

Sasuke sighed, unceremoniously dumping his cabbage into the pot before grabbing an onion. “You're such a pervert.”

“Hey, now,” Naruto brandished a bunch of shungiku at Sasuke, “I'm not the one who almost--!”

“Oh, my god, Naruto, isn't this onion delicious!” Sasuke forcibly crammed the onion into Naruto's blabbing mouth.

The blond munched on the onion thoughtfully, much to Sasuke's surprise. “Yeah, it is, but I don't know why you had to give me the whole thing. Now there won't be enough onion in our hot pot!”

Sasuke sighed—what did Hinata see in this guy? “You are such a dumbass.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter expected to be posted on Oct 8


	15. Classic Man

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uh. It's been a year. I'm really sorry about that! I was intending to take a hiatus, but I never intended for it to be so long! I had a lot of stuff going on at work and in my personal life, but I'm doing really well right now. Speaking of work, I used to do most of my writing during some down time in my schedule, but my schedule changed, so I no longer have that down time. As such, I have no idea what my posting schedule is going to look like from here on out- hopefully chapter 16 will come out sooner than a year from now! I'm going to tentatively say new chapters monthly, which I know is a long time, but if we're lucky and I can get my shit together, it will be sooner than that. I really want to thank you all for your continued support this past year! I truly appreciate each and every one of you!

“Good morning, youthful spirits of Konoha Gakuen class 2-B!” A green swimsuit-clad Gai-sensei shouted enthusiastically. “Are you ready to get wet?”

There were few titters at this turn of phrase, mostly from Naruto; ignoring the laughter, Gai-sensei continued, “Today's lesson will include a warm up and a basic review of the strokes, followed by a proficiency test. The blazing spirits of the young men are up first!” He turned and gestured at the bleachers. “If the beautiful springtime blossoms of 2-B would take a seat, we'll get started.”

“Sakura-chan, Hinata-chan,” Ino turned to her friends as the filed into the bleachers with their classmates, “there's a new karaoke place down the street from my family's shop! Do you want to check it out after school?”

“I'm free tonight-- sounds like fun!” Sakura smiled brightly. “Let's do it!”

“What about you, Hinata-chan? Can you come?” Ino asked, her blue eyes sparkling.

Hinata frowned, ducking her head. “I'm sorry, I'm tutoring a student for Kurenai-sensei after school during club time.”

“Well, what if we waited until after club time?” Sakura looked between her two friends.

Ino shrugged, “Works for me.”

Hinata bit her lip thoughtfully, “I suppose if I told Neji-nii-san where I was going, it would be alright.” She flashed a beaming smile at her friends and echoed Sakura with a giggle, “Let's do it!”

>>>>

Hinata really hoped that the boys in her class were gentler in their criticisms of the opposite sex than the girls. Sitting in the bleachers, she had heard Shino and Kiba described as “a bean pole” and “too hairy,” respectively. And she never thought she'd be rid of the mental image conjured by a classmate's description of Shikamaru's wet hair as a “flaccid pineapple.”

Hinata could only imagine what words would be used to describe her. “Lumpy” was the word that immediately came to mind. Simultaneously pulling up the front of her swimsuit and pulling down on the rear, Hinata couldn't decide if she was dejected or relieved that Naruto seemed to only have eyes for Sakura. In fact, the only boy who was paying her any attention was Sasuke, who was sitting there with his hands steepled in front of his mouth like he was trying to solve a difficult problem.

Somewhere, in the back of her mind, Hinata was mortified by his attention, but she was mostly just annoyed that he liked to intimidate her so much. Honestly, hadn't they formed some sort of friendship at the theme park? Weren't they over this childish bullying? 

Summoning all of her courage, Hinata shot Sasuke a glare that was more like a pout, and felt a surge of satisfaction when the boy actually blinked in surprise.

She snapped on her swim cap, mollified, and stepped onto the starting block. Here was one test she didn't get anxious about. As the whistle sounded, Hinata let years of competitive swimming and swim lessons take over. She had really enjoyed swimming, had even been good at it, but when puberty unlocked the hidden blessings of heredity that even a compression swimsuit couldn't fully hide, she gave it up. It was probably for the best, Hinata mused. Being on the swim team would take away from her valuable study time. Distantly, the Hyuuga realized she had reached the wall and finished her heat. Hinata looked up; she had finished first, a length in front of the next girl. 

Shino and Kiba were cheering in the stands, but not as loudly as Naruto. Blushing, she watched as the blond boy hit Sasuke on the shoulder, saying something to him.

Sasuke was looking at her with something that looked like pride.

>>>>

She didn't know who had written it, but whoever it was, was very, very rude. To write, in their best English, “SASUKE IS A DICK” on the board after end-of-day cleaning was just plain mean and even Hinata didn't think the American deserved that. Grabbing an eraser, she swiped at the board, obscuring the message.

The classroom door slid open, Sasuke's distinctive music entering the room before he did. Pulling one ear bud out of his ear, he frowned, “What are you doing?”

“I, uh-- whoever was cleaning left a spot!” Hinata stammered, scrubbing harder at the board and hoping Sasuke hadn't seen what was written.

“No, I mean, what are you doing here?” He threw his bag down onto his desk. “I'm supposed to have tutoring in here during club time.”

“I'm supposed to tutor in here during club time,” Hinata said. The realization hit them both at once. “Oh.”

“You're my tutor? You're Kurenai's best English student?” Sasuke asked incredulously.

Hinata stiffened defensively, “I consistently get top marks on all our exams, and I've tested at university-level comprehension.”

“But nobody in our class knows this?”

“I-- I don't want to seem like I'm trying to brag!” the girl shifted uncomfortably.

Sasuke snorted, “It's almost like you don't want people to know you're talented.”

Hinata's cheeks heated up, but she remained silent. That almost sounded like some sort of compliment.

“Whatever,” the boy said, and he sounded uncomfortable, too. “So are you going to tutor me, or what?”

>>>>

“Sasuke-san, where did you learn this word?”

“What, it just means 'you,' doesn't it?”  
“Yes,” Hinata stretched the word into two syllables, “but it's also very rude.”

“What the hell,” Sasuke grumbled. “How can a flippin' pronoun be rude?”

Ignoring the American, Hinata scribbled down some kanji. “When you're writing a formal essay like this one, you'll want to use this word, or this one.”

“What the fuck,” he repeated.

“Where did you learn that word?” Hinata asked, leaning slightly over the desk.

Sasuke looked away. “It was a manga.”

“You read manga?”

“They were Naruto's!” he said defensively, planting his hands on the desk. “I was bored!”

Hinata fiddled with her fingers thoughfully; she had never considered manga as a language learning device. “Maybe you could bring one with you next time? And we could look at it together?”

“You're the tutor, you tell me,” Sasuke snapped. After a moment, he ran a hand through his hair, “Yeah, sure, whatever.”

“Great!” Hinata said brightly. She joined Sasuke on his side of the desk. “Now, you're getting your kanji confused-- you actually want to use this character.” She drew it out slowly and carefully.

“Like this?” Sasuke mumbled, his shoulder bumping into Hinata's as he drew it in a way that she was sure was on purpose.

Fighting against the color blooming on her cheek, Hinata barely registered the classroom door sliding open. “No, more like this,” she corrected his kanji, trying to ignore the brush of her sleeve against his chest.

“Uh, Hinata-chan?” Sakura's voice cut through her thoughts.

The Hyuuga straightened up, hitting Sasuke's chin with her head in the process. Rubbing her head, she turned to find Sakura and Ino standing in the doorway with flabbergasted expressions on their faces. 

“Oh,” Hinata said meekly. “Hi.”


End file.
